Bacterial Productivity in Intensely Cultured High-Yield Fish Pond Using [3H]TDR Tracing Analysis Techniques

A rough comparison of bacterial and phytoplankton productivity suggested that bacterial productivity is at least equivalent to, and perhaps 2-3 times higher than phytoplankton productivity. Studies on pond ecosystem processes and dynamics have proved that aquatic bacteria are not only an important component of the pond’s ecosystem, but are also closely related to autotrophic and heterotrophic production— major fish pond production systems—and to fish yield. During heterotrohic production, the deoxyribonucliec acid (DNA) of aquatic bacteria is synthesized each time the bacterial cell divides, therefore the rate of synthesis of DNA is proportional to the rate of cell division. The rate of bacterial cell division was then used to estimate aquatic bacterial production and production/biomass coefficients. The total quantity of heterotrophic bacteria and aquatic bacteria, as well as their biomass, were measured using standard methods of counting and measuring cell volumes.