Influence of Types and Doses of Fertilizer on the Physicochemical Characteristics of Water, Composition and Structure of Zooplankton Populations in Ponds

In order to improve fish productivity, an essay on the evaluation of the comparative effect of chicken and pig manure on the composition and structure of Zooplankton was conducted at the Application and Research farm from the University of Dschang (LN: 5º44’-5 °36 and LE: 10º06’-9 ° 85’). For this purpose, 15 ponds (5.7 x 5.7 x 1m), three doses of 0 (control); 800 and 1000kg/ha of chicken manure as well as pig dung were used. At each of the randomly selected ponds was administered one of the fertilizer doses every 7 days. Each of the doses and type of fertilizer representing a treatment was repeated three times. The physicochemical characteristics of the water and the Zooplankton population were measured every 14 days. With respect to the physicochemical characteristics of water, the values of nitrites (7.92 ± 0.05mg/l), nitrates (8.03 ± 0.24mg/l), phosphates (4.68 ± 0, 05mg/l) were significantly (p <0.05) higher in ponds fertilized at 1000kg/ha pig dung, the lowest being obtained in the control treatment. For Zooplankton, the highest specific (64.51% of total species), generics (87.87% of total genera) and families (82.35% of total) Zooplanktonic abundances were obtained in ponds fertilized at the rate of 1000kg/ha of chicken manure. The species of rotifers were the most diverse survived those of cladocerans whatever the type or the dose of fertilizer. The use of the 1000kg/ha dose of chicken droppings makes sense for a large production of Zooplankton diversity.

Keywords: Pond; Fertilization; Chicken manure; Pig dung; Zooplankton