Sreenivasa V. , Prabhdevi L. , Mitiku Tesso

Department of Biology, Ambo University, PO Box No. 19, Ambo, Ethiopia
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 25   doi: 10.5376/ija.2014.04.0025
Received: 20 Sep., 2014    Accepted: 11 Oct., 2014    Published: 10 Dec., 2014

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Sreenivasa et al., 2014, Studies on the Evaluation of Biocenosis in Sewage Oxidation Ponds for Fish Culture, International Journal of Aquaculture, Vol.4, No.25: 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2014.04.0025)

Studies were conducted to assess the impact of Biocenosis on water quality parameters like temperature, pH, conductivity, total alkalinity, chloride, dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in the sewage oxidation ponds at Ambo University campus, Ethiopia. The phytoplankton of 10 genera belonging to Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Euglenoideae and Cyanophyceae as well as zooplankton such as rotifers, ostracods and copepods were observed. The major benthic fauna recorded were seven genera of insects and a single genus of oligochaete and nematode respectively. Three dominant bacterial genera namely Enterobacter sp, E-coli and Pseudomonas sp. were isolated from the water. In McConkey agar medium the mean density of the bacterial population was found to be 27 x10³, 29 x10³ and 6 x10³ in the three ponds respectively. Whereas, in the Pseudomonas agar they were found to be 79x10³, 74x10³ and 107x10³ respectively in ponds 1, 2 and 3. However, in the nutrient agar, the bacterial colonies were moderate in numbers and the mean values were 22 x10³, 37 x10³ and 17x10³ in pond 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The results on the physico-chemical parameters indicated that the alkaline pHand high dissolved oxygen in the second and third oxidation ponds were within the permissible level for fish culture. Further, the results on the phytoplankton also revealed the high photosynthetic activity which enhances oxygen content and production of live food organisms.

Biocenosis; Enterobacter sp.; E. coli; Pseudomonas sp.