ABSTRACT
Multi-species polyculture is characteristic of traditional integrated fish farming practices, and stocking fish in different ecological niches of fish ponds results in efficient utilization of the ecosystem’s resources. This chapter studies development process of detritus using faeces of grass carp and the dead cells of Microcystis sp. Morphological variations were observed using a scanning electronic microscope (SEM), and the nutritional variation of detritus was analyzed with an amino acid automatic analyzer and with a carbon and nitrogen analyzer. Combined with the results of SEM examination, the chapter suggests that proliferation of bacteria on the detritus elevated the nutritional value of detritus. Variation in the nutritional composition of detritus is closely related to its morphological change during incubation. Controversies about the trophic role of detritus in the fish pond ecosystem continue. Grass carp faeces floating on the water surface of the fish pond at the Lake Diansanhu fish farm were sampled and taken to the laboratory for incubation.
