Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) Growth in an Aquaponic System with Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

Akvaponika je metoda, s katero gojimo rastline in ribe v načrtno izdelanem krožnem ekosistemu, ki izkorišča naravno prisotne bakterije za razkroj ribjih iztrebkov v hrano za rastline (gnojilo). Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) je rastlina, katere posušene in zdrobljene delce uporabljamo kot naravno sladilo. Predstavljeni in opisani so bili izgradnja in delovanje lastnega akvaponskega sistema ter rezultati in ugotovitve vzporedne pridelave navadnih krapov in stevije. Za poskus so bile v akvaponsko gredo, ki je bila v celoti plod lastnega dela, nasajene štiri približno enako velike sadike stevije. Istočasno je bilo v vrtni ribnik zraven akvaponske grede naseljenih sedemnajst mladih navadnih krapov. Konec septembra so bili pobrani listi stevije v skupni masi posušenih listov 23 g. V enakem obdobju je bilo izlovljenih osem navadnih krapov, ki so tehtali 1908 g. Iz tega podatka je bilo izračunano, da je bila skupna masa enajstih navadnih krapov 2620,75 g. Skupna masa navadnih krapov se je v 138 dneh, kolikor dolgo je trajal poskus, povečala za 571,75 %.Aquaponics is a method used to cultivate plants and fish in a strictly designed circular ecosystem that exploits naturally present bacteria for the breakdown of fish excretions to make nutrients for plants (fertiliser). Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) is a plant grown for its leaves that are used as natural sweetener when dried and crushed. It presents and describes the construction and operation of my own aquaponic system and the results and findings of the parallel cultivation of common carp and stevia. For the experiment, 4 stevia plants of roughly the same size were planted in a fully home-made aquaponic bed. At the same time, 17 small common carp were placed in a garden pond next to the aquaponic bed. At the end of September, the leaves were picked from the plants, which, dried, weighed 23 g in total. In the same period, I caught 8 small carp that weighed 1908g. Based on the data, I calculated that the weight of 11 common carp totalled 2620.75 g. In 138 days of the experiment, the total weight of the carp increased by 571,75 %