Effect of effluent from Nile tilapia fish ponds on soil quality, growth and shelf life of Amaranthus palmeri seedlings

Soil nutrient management is required to maintain the plant system's constant productivity while also maintaining good soil quality. This study documented the effluent quality, soil quality, growth, shelf life and proximate analysis of Amaranthus palmeri as well as the effect of the resulting nutrients on soil properties, growth, and yield. The experiment was set up in a completely randomized block design, with four factors (tilapia effluent, combination of effluent and NPK 15-15-15 fertilizer, only fertilizer and only tap water) each at six replicate per treatment (T1-T6: Tilapia effluent, T7-T12: Tilapia effluent + fertilizer, T13-T18: Only fertilizer and T19-T24: Only tap water) at the University for Development Studies fish farm on the Nyankpala campus. During the experimental period, the growth characteristics such as number of seed emergence, plant height, number of leaves, fresh biomass before and after sheflife and the proximate analysis of Amaranthus palmeri were evaluated. The soil properties and effluent nutrient content were measured and compared before and after experiment. Field and laboratory results on growth indices measured, shelf life and proximate analysis of Amaranthus palmeri , soil nutrient properties, effluent and tap water nutrient measured were statistically analysed with ANOVA and Duncan Multiple Range Test at (P < 0.05). The findings indicate that tilapia effluent significantly influenced all the growth parameters measured compared to other treatment at (P < 0.05). Sheflife and proximate analysis were enhanced in tilapia treated plant. Soil quality such as soil pH, percentage nitrogen, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium concentration was significantly enhanced in the tilapia effluent treatment. The findings therefore suggests that tilapia effluent has the potential to improve soil quality, improve growth and shelf life of Amaranthus palmeri as an additional benefit of culturing Nile tilapia.