Effects of Using Rice Bran and Cottonseed Meal as Organic Fertilizers on Water Quality,Plankton, and Growth and Yield of Striped Bass,Morone saxatilis,Fingerlings in Ponds

Several significant differences in water quality, primary production, production of plankton, or yield of striped bass, "Morone saxatilis," fingerlings were found between ponds fertilized with either rice bran and inorganic fertilizer or those ferilized with cottonseed meal and inorganic fertilizer. Ponds fertilized with rice bran had the lowest ammonia concentrations and Secchi disc readings and the highest concentrations of cladocerans and crustracean zooplankton. At harvest, after 82 days of culture, striped bass fingerlings from ponds fertilized with rice bran were significantly larger than were those from ponds fertilized with cottonseed meal. Numbers of fingerlins produced per hectare did not differ by treatment but ferilizer cost were US$94.78/ha less for ponds fertilized with rice bran.