DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AGRIC LIME AND HYDEATED LIME IN LIMING AN EARTHEN POND

Agricultural lime and hydrated
lime were compared as liming
materials in earthen ponds to
determine their effects on water
quality, zooplankton density, and
production of Florida large mouth bass (Micropterus salmoides
floridanus) fingerlings. Twelve
0.28-0.36-ha ponds were randomly
divided into three groups of four
ponds each and assigned to three
treatments. Treatment 1 used agricultural lime broadcast at 30.5
kg/ha; treatment 2 used hydrated
lime broadcast at 30.5 kg/ha; and
(control) treatment 3 used
agricultural lime applied at 2,245
kg/ha by front-end loader to the corners of each pond. All ponds
were fertilized according to an
established regime with both
inorganic and organic fertilizers.
The water quality variables,
dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, alkalinity, hardness,
and chlorophyll-a as well as
zooplankton density, were
measured throughout the study
and compared among treatments.
The fish production variables, harvest length, harvest biomass,
percent survival, and growth as
well as the cost of producing fish,
were also compared among
treatments. Except for zooplankton
density, harvest biomass, and cost of producing fish, measured
variables were statistically similar
among treatments. Zooplankton
density was significantly lower in
treatment 2 ponds than in
treatment 1 or 3 ponds, and similar between the latter two treatments.
Harvest biomass was significantly
higher for treatment 3 than for
treatment 1 or 2, and similar
between treatments 1 and 2. The
cost of producing fish based on the purchase price of lime was
significantly higher for treatments
3 ($0.75/kg) and 2 ($0.52/kg) than
for treatment 1 ($0.09/kg). Labor
cost was significantly higher for
agricultural lime when applied by front-end loader ($10.00/pond)
than for hydrated lime or
agricultural lime applied by
broadcasting onto the pond surface
($3.33/pond). Because of high
mortalities in 2 of 4 ponds of each of treatments 1 and 2, the effects of
hydrated lime compared to
agricultural lime on Florida
large mouth bass fingerling
production was unclear.

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