I'd like you to meet the first aquaphonics student. The student Kristián Božik, from Slovakia, has been studying for the second year at Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Horticulture. As we cooperate closely with this university, we have agreed with the faculty management to engage in our activities. Kristián will have Future Farming farms at his disposal where he can work on his research studies. All the knowledge of practical applications of aquaponic systems will be available for him and he is going to build an academic set of knowledge and research on their bases. We are getting a new co-worker and friend, and our team has grown with the first student. We are working to make it not the only one and to engage other universities and schools in the development of the aquaponic industry. I have known for many years that aquaponia is the future of this planet. I am very pleased that these ideas are already fertile ground for young students and their professors. Great thanks to prof. Ing. Robert Pokluda, Ph.D., Dean of the Horticultural Faculty of Mendel University, who designed and enabled this cooperation.
Below Kristian presents himself in his own words.
Michal FoFun Fojtík.
Dear readers.
I would like to introduce myself to you in this way. My name is Kristián Božik and I am a student of the 2nd year of bachelor's degree, the Gardening Engineering program, the Horticulture department, at the Mendel University.
There was a choice of topic for work, and I chose Aquaponics. Why aquaponics? In fact, as a young person, I am interested in ecology and in today's times it is necessary to find a friendly way of purchasing food. And the answer to this is the aforementioned aquaponics. It connects everything I like. Both crop growing and fish farming. I am fascinated by the way of using fish droppings, which are subsequently transformed by nitrification processes into plant nutrients. The plants filter the water and then clean it again to the fish. This closed cycle respects all the principles of nutrient circulation in nature and is therefore very environmentally friendly. That is why I fell in love with it and I would like to go into this field.
In collaboration with Aquaponic association and Future Farming, we decided to join our forces and bring the issue to light. As a student of Mendel University, I will be responsible for determining the quality of the crops produced, the determination of micro and macro elements, vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants as well as the content of pesticides and drugs. We compare the measured results with the production from hydroponic cultivation in order to prove that the vegetable grown in aquaponics is harmless, even more beneficial to health.
In the future, I would like to continue with an engineer degree and later with a doctoral degree so that I can further develop scientific studies. And then to pursue a career.
From my point of view, aquaponics has a great future, especially with the growing trend of demand for healthy food. Secondly, the population is growing very fast and the essence of aquaponics is the production of both plant food and the animal one in one place. Quantitatively, we move up to 3.9 x higher numbers on vegetables. Another benefit is the year-round local production, which is not threatened by climatic conditions. A big advantage is the saving of drinking water, which today becomes a scarce commodity. Compared to normal production, there is 90-95% saving. The plants have ideal living conditions and therefore grow faster. The presence of pests and diseases is eliminated and the use of pesticides or other drugs that leave traces in the form of residues is not necessary.
Finally, I would like to thank prof. Ing. Robert Poklud Ph.D. who will be my mentor and support throughout the study, and thanks to whom I have had the opportunity to participate in this activity. Furthermore, my big thanks to the Association of Aquaponics Fares and Future Farming, who enabled me to look into the test farm in Nymburk, where I had the opportunity to see everything with my own eyes and engage my senses of smell and taste.
I look forward to further collaboration and publication that has begun this day.
Kristián Božik.
