Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) production at four vertical height levels under aquaponic system

Abstract

Theobjective of this research was to evaluate the production of watercress (Nasturtium officinale) at four vertical heights under an aquaponic system in the locality of Viacha. It is a descriptive research in which the non-parametric Friedman's test was used for the statistical evaluation since it studies the comparison of the four levels of height in the production of watercress, the variables considered were temperature and relative humidity, length of the watercress, diameter of the branch, number of shoots, number of leaves, weight of the watercress and production costs. The best behaved level was level 4 with the length of the watercress branch was 24.50 cm, branch diameter 3.36 mm, number of shoots 14, number of leaves 46, weight of watercress 916 g. The aquaponic system makes it possible to combine vegetable and fish production in a temperate environment. The results obtained show that aquaponics can be a viable alternative for the productive diversification of family units in the Bolivian Altiplano, as long as some fundamental aspects related to the reduction of the operating costs of theaquaponic system are resolved. On the other hand, in the Altiplano region, the local inhabitants have the idea of diversifying their production, especially in communities where they have a small water source, and have always had the initiative to dedicatethemselves to fish production.