Despite the sustainable potential of aquaponics, its commercialization remains limited due to technical and socio-economic challenges, including unstable production. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of exposing fish tanks to sunlight and system configuration (coupled vs. decoupled) in aquaponics. Four replicated system types (light-coupled, dark-coupled, light-decoupled, and dark-decoupled) were monitored over ten months, encompassing two cherry tomato production trials using inert substrate cultivation. Illumination and coupling increased fish yield by 21 % (p = 0.02) and 22 % (p < 0.001), respectively. This was attributed partly to the availability of algal biofloc as an additional food source in illuminated systems and improved water clarity from continuous filtration in coupled systems. Tomato production varied between the two trials. In the first trial, coupled systems outperformed decoupled ones, achieving 44.5 % higher yields due to elevated nutrient concentrations and more frequent irrigation. In the second trial, decoupled systems produced 1711 g per plant, surpassing coupled systems by 26 %, owing largely to poor drainage caused by excess microbial sludge accumulation in the latter. Notably, illumination and the algal-dominated microbial community had no adverse effects on plant growth and even enhanced tomato yield in the second trial (p = 0.011). Analysis of nitrifying bacteria revealed that decoupled systems fostered higher nitrifier abundance in fish tanks than coupled systems, likely due to differences in solids retention and hydraulic retention time. These findings underscore the potential of fish tank illumination to boost system productivity and highlight the importance of solids management in optimizing overall system performance.

Poultry processing wastewater (PPW) is a nutrient-rich effluent suitable for hydroponic irrigation. A nitrogen mass balance was developed for a pilot-scale poultryponics system comprising bioreactors (algal-bacteria consortium vs. bacteria only), clarifiers, filters, UV disinfection and hydroponic grow beds to assess N recovery and lettuce production on treated PPW. Lettuce cultivated on treated PPW showed 5 +/- 1 % higher root biomass, 58 +/- 10 % lower shoot growth, and nutrient deficiency (K, Mg, Ca, Cu) compared to mineral fertilizer treatments (p < 0.05). pH control (pH = 7.0) and nutrient supplementation (N, P, K and micronutrients) mitigated growth inhibition. Nitrogen was not limiting, as nitrogen utilization efficiency ranged from 3.7 %-6.3 %, with 65.4 %-83.0 % of input nitrogen (similar to 213 g N) remaining in effluents, indicating the potential for a larger plant production system. These findings highlight the importance of targeted nutrient supplementation to enhance lettuce growth on treated PPW, while balancing nitrogen supply with plant demands.

"Poultryponics" is a bioponics system that treats poultry processing wastewater (PPW) for hydroponic irrigation. Effective pathogen removal is an under-studied barrier to advancing bioponics technology. This study evaluated the system's capacity to manage high exogenous doses of three Salmonella serotypes commonly associated with poultry. The poultryponics treatment train, operating at similar to 115 liters d(-1), consisted of bioreactors (algal vs. bacterial), clarifiers, membrane filters, UV disinfection, water storage reservoir, and hydroponic grow beds. The fate of Salmonella spp. in the system was evaluated by analyzing water and lettuce samples for Salmonella contamination across three experimental stages: pre-inoculation (days 0-10), inoculation (days 11-20), and recovery (days 21-30). During the inoculation phase, bioreactors were spiked daily at levels significantly higher than those typically detected in PPW (<1 log(10) CFU mL (-1) Salmonella). When challenged at 3 log(10) CFU mL (-1), the Salmonella levels observed in the algal and bacterial bioreactors were 0.6 and 1.4 log(10) CFU mL (-1), representing a 99.6% and 97.5% reduction, respectively (p = 0.03). UV disinfection eliminated Salmonella from water samples, with no Salmonella detection in lettuce. At the 5 log(10) CFU mL (-1) dosage, Salmonella counts in bioreactor effluent were reduced to approximately 3 log(10) CFU mL (-1) by day 15 of inoculation (99% reduction). However, as Salmonella dosage continued, removal efficiency decreased, with Salmonella detection after UV treatment but not in grow beds or lettuce. This study confirms the effectiveness of the poultryponics system in managing Salmonella under extreme contamination scenarios.

Biofloc technology is an aquaculture production system that has gained popularity with tilapia production. Probiotics provide benefits for the host and/or aquatic environments by both regulating and modulating microbial communities and their metabolites. When a probiotic feed is combined with a biofloc system, the production amount may be improved through better fish growth, disease resistance, and/or improved water quality by reducing organic matter and stabilizing metrics such as pH and components of the nitrogen cycle. Two research trials measured Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) growth performance and composition of the microbial communities in the water and within the fish fecal material, following feeding with top‐coated probiotic treatments. Trial A incorporated tilapia (71.4 ± 4.4 g), and a commercial diet (Control) that was top coated with either Bacillus velenzensis AP193 (AP193; 1 × 107 CFU g1) and BiOWiSH Feedbuilder Syn3 (BW; 3.6 × 104 CFU g−1). In Trial B, juvenile tilapia (5.34 ± 0.42 g) were fed treatment diets top coated with two different concentrations of BiOWiSH Feedbuilder Syn3 at final concentrations of 3.6 × 104 CFU g−1 (BWx1) and 7.2 × 104 CFU g−1 (BWx2). Tilapia were offered commercial feed (38% protein floating tilapia feed) as a control diet for both trials. Results from both growth trials indicated no differences in growth performance due to the probiotic additions, except for feed conversion ratio (FCR) in Trial B. Both BWx1 and BWx2 showed improved survival, water quality, solids management, and bacterial composition of water and fecal matter. Even though growth performance results presented no significant differences, results could differ based on the probiotic concentration, the route of probiotic administration, or their impact on the microbial community of the biofloc system culture water. Trial results indicated that testing on a larger scale with varied probiotic doses may be necessary to achieve an effective dosage for improving tilapia growth performance.

In controlled environment agriculture (CEA), accurate yield forecasting remains challenging due to reliance on environmental sensor data, which fails to capture plants’ dynamic morphological responses to growth conditions. This study bridges the gap by establishing a vision-based framework to forecast plant growth dynamics over prediction windows of 2, 4, and 8 days using automated phenotyping and time-series modelling. A plant phenotype monitoring framework was implemented using commercially available cameras and off-the-shelf deep learning-based models (YOLO). The robustness of the YOLO and time-series models was rigorously evaluated under a range of treatment conditions, including a control, salt stress levels at 3, 6, and 9 ppt, and different root architectures (single-root and split-root) in hydroponic greenhouse trials conducted over two growing seasons. Top-view images of the plants were collected using GoPro and Raspberry Pi cameras, and different YOLOv8 instance segmentation model variants were trained on four image datasets to extraction of morphological traits such as area, major, and minor axes. Results indicated that YOLOv8 generalized well, achieving mAP50 for bounding boxes and masks in the range of 0.897 – 0.952 and 0.896 – 0.947, respectively. Model-derived morphological parameters effectively captured growth differences across salt levels and root architectures, with split-root plants showed resiliency under salt stress compared to single-root. Comparisons between physical measurements and image-derived parameters such as major and minor axes yielded high R² values of 0.85 and 0.92 for single-root systems, and 0.90 and 0.84 for split root systems. Additionally, the area parameter obtained from images showed an R² of 0.882 when compared with plant fresh weight. ARIMA model used to forecast the plant area parameters over 2-, 4-, and 8-days windows and evaluated using MAPE. Notably, the 2-day forecasts for single-root plants under 9 ppt salt stress yielded the lowest MAPE values (3.99 in the fall and 1.70 in the spring), although 8-day forecasts at higher salt concentrations exhibited generally larger errors. For split-root plants, the 4 days forecast under 3 ppt salt stress produced a MAPE of 7.13 in the fall, while in the spring, the 8 days forecast at 9 ppt achieved a MAPE of 2.08. The forecasted area values demonstrated R² values of 0.623, 0.671, and 0.75 for the 2-, 4-, and 8-day forecast windows respectively when compared with fresh weight, indicating that the area parameter is a reliable predictor of yield. These findings confirm that morphological changes capture environmental influences and can be reliably forecasted, introducing a scalable, data-driven method to predict yield in CEA while helping growers optimize resource usage and reduce productivity risks.

Aquaponics and biofloc‐based aquaculture systems are environmentally sustainable food production systems. When biofloc technology is combined with hydroponic systems, it expands economic diversity by producing additional value‐added products. Dietary additives were incorporated into fish feeds in this trial to improve food production in decoupled aquaponic systems. In this decoupled aquaponic system, the biofloc aquaculture system consisted of nine cylindrical tanks of 3750 L with 170 juvenile Nile tilapia (9.99 ± 0.54 g) stocked in each tank. The fish were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: fish fed a commercial feed (Com), commercial diet + protease complex (PC; AG175 by Jefo Nutrition; 175 g 1000 kg −1 ), and commercial feed + humic substance (HS; MFG50 by Kent Nutrition; 2500 g 1000 kg −1 ). The feeding trial was conducted for 60 days. A deep‐water culture hydroponic system with nine 109 L troughs was used. Each trough corresponded to each tank and contained 15 romaine lettuce plants. The first 4 weeks were fish growth trials, and the last four were fish and plant growth trials. Fish and plant growth parameters showed no differences between treatments. However, the leaf greenness in romaine lettuce plants in the PC treatment had significantly higher chlorophyll content than the other treatments ( p = 0.002). When microbial communities were analyzed, significant differences were found in the Shannon diversity indices (fecal, water, and root p < 0.001), Chao1 (fecal p < 0.002, water p < 0.001, and root p < 0.001), and observed species (feca; p = 0.046, water p = 0.017, and root p = 0.015). When beta diversity was analyzed through the Bray–Curtis dissimilarity index, fecal samples ( p = 0.001) and root samples ( p = 0.002) showed clear differences. The most abundant phyla found in all samples were Pseudomonadota. Overall, this study concluded that these additives did not affect the growth of Nile tilapia and romaine lettuce but influenced the bacterial composition of fish feces, water, and root samples and the chlorophyll content of the plants.

Controlled environment agriculture, including hydroponics, vertical farms, and aquaponics, has gained significant attention in recent years for its soil-free cultivation methods using nutrient solutions and substrates. However, food safety concerns associated with these systems necessitate novel strategies to mitigate bacterial contamination risks. This study evaluated the efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail as a biocontrol agent against Salmonella enterica contamination in lettuce grown in water-recirculating systems. S. enterica serovars Newport and Typhimurium were inoculated at 3 log colony-forming units (CFU)/mL into the nutrient solutions of aquaponic and hydroponic systems to simulate contamination. Three treatments were evaluated: a control (no bacteriophage treatment) and two multiplicity of infection (MOI) levels (0.01 and 1). Over the 6 days post inoculation, phage treatments significantly reduced Salmonella populations in recirculating solutions and on lettuce leaves, roots, and plugs compared with controls ( P < 0.05). By day 5, Salmonella in nutrient solutions decreased to 0.23 log CFU/mL at MOI 1.0, whereas at MOI 0.01, levels reduced below the limit of detection (LOD = 0.10 log CFU/mL) by day 3 (aquaponic) and day 4 (hydroponic). On root and plug surfaces, Salmonella ranged from

Aquaponics systems are based upon the conversion of fish waste into plant substrates; thus, feed input is a critical component to managing water quality and optimizing performance. The current study assessed the effects of fermented yeast products (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on Nile tilapia (38.63 +/- 2.01 g) and romaine lettuce growth, health and microbiome by combining a biofloc system with a deep-water hydroponic setup. Three distinct diets, each consisting of three replicates, were fed to the fish: a basal diet with 32 % crude protein and 8 % lipid, a diet having 2 % DVAQUA (R) inclusion, and a diet containing 0.1 % NutriTek (R). No discernible growth differences across treatments were observed in the fish and plant growth trials. Foliar tissue examination showed that NutriTek-treated romaine lettuce plants had noticeably greater magnesium levels than the basal diet treated plants (P = 0.031). Following challenge with Flavobacterium oreochromis, fish fed DVAQUA and NutriTek exhibited greater survival than those fed the basal diet (P < 0.001), based on Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. No differences in serum lysozyme activity were found, but immune-related markers in the spleen and kidney tissues displayed differences pre- and post-challenge. When bacterial communities were analyzed, differences were found in alpha diversity indices in both fish fecal samples (Shannon diversity index- P < 0.001, Chao - P < 0.001 and observed species P = 0.001) and root samples (Shannon diversity index- P < 0.001, Chao - P < 0.001 and observed species P = 0.005) between treatments (P < 0.05). The most abundant phylum presented in fecal samples was Fusobacteria, whereas Cyanobacteria was the most abundant for root samples. In conclusion, feeding fermented yeast products as dietary supplements improved resistance to disease in Nile tilapia and influenced the bacterial composition in both the fecal and root microbiome.

Poultry processing wastewater (PPW) is a nutrient-rich effluent with the potential for reuse in crop irrigation. This study investigated transforming PPW into a hydroponic nutrient solution using a pilot scale "poultryponics" system operated continuously for 222 days. The system treated similar to 57 L d(-1 )of real PPW and consisted of bioreactors (inoculated with a consortium of microalgae and nitrifying bacteria), clarifiers, membrane filters, a UV disinfection unit, and a deep-water hydroponic system. The system was evaluated in terms of nitrogen transformation, organic removal efficiency, and pathogen levels. Although soluble organic removal efficiencies (sCOD) were high (>80%) in all bioreactors, nitrification was limited due to high organic loading (350-800 mg sCOD L-1), relatively short retention time (24 h), and low dissolved oxygen levels (<3.5 mg O-2 L-1). Grow beds showed significant nitrification, indicating the importance of upstream organic removal. CO2 supplementation (0.5% v/v) in bioreactors did not promote nitrification in the bioreactors but was beneficial for nitrification in grow beds due to pH-modulating effects. Microbiological analyses showed no Salmonella detection in bioreactors and substantial reductions in total coliform (similar to 40%) and aerobic plate counts (similar to 30%) after UV treatment. These findings demonstrate the sustainable and safe reuse of nutrient-rich industrial effluents in agriculture.

Highlights A mass balanced process model for a large, decoupled aquaponics system was developed in SuperPro Designer. The flows of N, P, and C were determined over the course of a full year of system operation. On average, tilapia assimilated 21.6% of the input nitrogen, while cucumber plants only assimilated an average of 2.81%. The model was suitable for long-term system simulation but was not effective at predicting short term effects. Abstract. Aquaponics presents a viable solution to water pollution from aquaculture by utilizing nitrate- and phosphate-rich effluent for crop production. The objective of this study was to develop a mass-balanced process model based on a pilot-scale aquaponics facility growing Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) in Auburn, Alabama. This enabled a better understanding of how key elements partition among different downstream processes, ultimately affecting nutrients available to plants or discharged to the environment. Data were collected from a pilot scale decoupled aquaponics system for a full calendar year and included weekly water quality, direct GHG emissions, and water flows. Bio-solids, fish mass, and plant mass were also quantified and underwent elemental analysis. Together, these measurements were used to create stoichiometric equations for mass partitioning. The resulting stoichiometry was used to develop a mass-balanced process model constructed in SuperPro Designer software. Four separate variations of the model were developed, one for each season. The model showed that 21.6% of input nitrogen was assimilated by tilapia and only 2.81% by plants, while 33% of input phosphorus was assimilated by tilapia and 2.6% by plants. Modeled effluent concentrations of nitrate from the fish tank, clarifier, and plants averaged 440, 441, and 307 mg L-1, respectively, compared to average measured values of 442, 406, and 298 mg L-1. Modeled effluent phosphate concentrations from the fish tank, clarifier, and plants were 25, 27, and 20 mg L-1 of phosphate, respectively, over the course of one year, while average measured values were 30, 31, and 26 mg L-1. The model was not suitable for predicting short term system changes. The constructed model shows promise in predicting long-term changes in system outputs based on upstream operational changes and is effective for simulation and scenario analysis. Keywords: Aquaponics, Mass balance, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Process Model.

Biofloc technology is a rearing technique that maintains desired water quality by manipulating carbon and nitrogen and their inherent mixture of organic matter and microbes. Beneficial microorganisms in biofloc systems produce bioactive metabolites that may deter the growth of pathogenic microbes. As little is known about the interaction of biofloc systems and the addition of probiotics, this study focused on this integration to manipulate the microbial community and its interactions within biofloc systems. The present study evaluated two probiotics (B. velezensis AP193 and BiOWiSH FeedBuilder Syn 3) for use in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) culture in a biofloc system. Nine independent 3785 L circular tanks were stocked with 120 juveniles (71.4 ± 4.4 g). Tilapia were fed for 16 weeks and randomly assigned three diets: a commercial control diet or a commercial diet top-coated with either AP193 or BiOWiSH FeedBuilder Syn3. At 14 weeks, the fish were challenged with a low dose of Streptococcus iniae (ARS-98-60, 7.2 × 107  CFU mL-1 , via intraperitoneal injection) in a common garden experimental design. At 16 weeks, the fish were challenged with a high dose of S. iniae (6.6 × 108  CFU mL-1 ) in the same manner. At the end of each challenge trial, cumulative per cent mortality, lysozyme activity and expression of 4 genes (il-1β, il6, il8 and tnfα) from the spleen were measured. In both challenges, the mortalities of the probiotic-fed groups were significantly lower (p < .05) than in the control diet. Although there were some strong trends, probiotic applications did not result in significant immune gene expression changes related to diet during the pre-trial period and following exposure to S. iniae. Nonetheless, overall il6 expression was lower in fish challenged with a high dose of ARS-98-60, while tnfα expression was lower in fish subjected to a lower pathogen dose. Study findings demonstrate the applicability of probiotics as a dietary supplement for tilapia reared in biofloc systems.

Aquaponics promises a more sustainable approach to food production by repurposing waste from aquaculture for the production of crop plants. Previous life cycle assessments have been published on the environmental impacts of coupled aquaponics using recirculating aquaculture systems, however, impacts from decoupled biofloc aquaponics systems remain unknown. Decoupled systems offer many operational advantages over coupled systems, and the objective of this study was to use life cycle assessment to quantify their environmental impacts. Data from a multi-greenhouse aquaponics system was collected over a one-year period to generate a life cycle inventory. A previously published mass balance model was also used to analyze alterative operational scenarios. Both avoided burden and mass allocation approaches were considered given the high sensitivity of the model toward the former. Results showed that electricity, heating fuel, and feed made up 40%, 22%, and 24% of global warming potential (GWP), similar to other aquaponics studies. These inputs similarly dominated cumulative energy demand. A switch to renewable electricity sources could reduce GWP by over 40% in scenario analysis. Eutrophication impacts of the decoupled biofloc aquaponics system ranged from 8.93 x 10-3 to 5.27 x 10-2 kg N-eq per kg fish depending on the scenario. While at least 10% lower than aquaculture alone, these rates were over four times higher than coupled aquaponics due to discharge of nutrient-containing waters after plant production. Efforts to balance fish and plant production are especially critical in decoupled systems, as is re-use of post-plant effluent. These results show that careful consideration of operational decisions is important when trying to minimize the environmental footprint of decoupled aquaponics systems.

Figure S1 shows water and feed inputs to the aquaponics system over the course of one year. Figure S2 shows modeled rates of nitrogen gas evolution over time due to denitrification in the aquaponics system.

Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) is a popular fruit crop, having gained significant interest in the past several decades, thus increasing demand for specialty crops. Depending on the cropping system used, strawberry pro-duction can be either annual or perennial and many improvements in management practices, breeding, and new systems have helped to support the commercial strawberry industry. Nevertheless, strawberry production has faced many challenges that have put pressure on research teams across the world to develop new mechanisms of adaptation to meet the increasing demand for high-quality strawberry production. In this article, we compiled information about the current state and future perspectives of commercial strawberry production. The biggest threats to strawberry production are extreme weather and pressure from pests and disease. Cultivars have been developed to curtail some of these challenges and to satisfy consumer preferences regarding fruit quality. New crop management techniques have been developed, such as overhead irrigation and row covers for frost pro-tection and steam or solarization for soil sanitization. In addition, new systems have been explored under pro-tected environments, accompanied by advanced technology operations to reduce human labor. As production trends shift to accommodate increasing demand, the adoption of new production systems and technology, the creation of new cultivars, and new management practices will be important in supporting the growing industry.

Strawberries are a very important economic crop; thus, a lot of research has been conducted on several production areas. However, phenological performance is still lacking information, especially when it comes to modeling. Therefore, this study aims to develop a phenological model for flower–fruit development under hydroponic conditions to support growers’ decision-making. Two day-neutral cultivars, ‘Albion’ and ‘San Andreas’, were established in a drip hydroponic system in Auburn, Alabama for the 2022–2023 production season. Phenological data were collected daily on 30 flowers per cultivar for three periods (Oct 25–Dec 16, Dec 27–Feb 21, and Feb 28–Apr 16). Weather data were obtained from a weather station placed in the greenhouse. Growing degree days (GDD) accumulation was calculated for each stage and cycle using a base temperature (Tb) of 3 °C. The Gaussian model was adjusted for each stage and cycle using a non-linear procedure to obtain Gaussian curves. Simulations were made for the model assuming temperature would increase or decrease by 1 °C. Six stages were identified, and their cycle ranged from 43–56 days to be accomplished. ‘Albion’ needed more days to reach maturity, with 51, 56, and 47 days, and ‘San Andreas’ took 43, 54, and 46 days for cycles 1, 2, and 3 respectively. In addition, for cycles 1 and 2, not all the buds reached maturity, as expected. Stage 5 (fruit formation) needed more days than the rest of the stages to be completed. Because of the different starting dates for each cycle, the starting GDD was different as well. A sensitivity analysis simulation of the model showed that if temperature decreases by 1 °C, the GDD accumulated to complete the stages would be less (same dates), and it would be more if the temperature increased by 1 °C. The opposite happened with the days, if the temperature increased by 1 °C, the duration of the stage decreased, and it would increase if the temperature decreased by 1 °C, affecting stages 4, 5, and 6. Overall, ‘San Andreas’ performed better than ‘Albion’ under hydroponic conditions during three productive cycles.