Duckweed Aquaculture: A New Aquatic Farming System for Developing Countries

The purpose of this booklet is to present a group of tiny aquatic plants commonly known as "duckweeds' as a promising new commercial aquaculture crop.

Section 1 presents basic information on duckweed biology. This paper summarizes current knowledge, gained from practical experience from the beginning of 1989 to mid-1991 in an experimental program in Mirzapur, Bangladesh, where duckweed cultivation was established and fresh duckweek fed to carp and tilapia.

Section 3 addresses the important issues in duckweed-fed fish production. The economics of duckweed farming and duckweed-fed fish production and institutional factors that are likely to affect its widespread adoption as a commercial crop are discussed in Section 4.

Section 5 summarizes the use of duckweed for stripping nutrients from wastewater. The bio-accumulation of nutrients and dissolved solids by duckweed is highly effective.

Section 6 provides other potential commercial applications of duckweed: in its dried form as the high protein component of animal feeds; and as a saline-tolerant aquaculture crop. It also contains a discussion of key research issues and constraints inhibiting the potential for duckweed as a commercial crop. The paper concludes with a selected bibliography covering important duckweed-related research.

Publication Details

• Published: 1993
• Publisher: World Bank
• ISBN-10: 082132067X
• ISBN-13: 9780821320679
• Dewey Decimal: 639.89
• ECHO Library: 639.89 SKI