Biomass yield and nutrient removal by water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as influenced by harvesting frequency

The effects of harvesting frequency on productivity, nutrient storage and uptake, and detritus accumulation by water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes /Mart/ Solms) cultured outdoors in nutrient-enriched waters were evaluated for a period of 13 months. Significant differences in hyacinth standing crop and productivity were measured with harvesting regimes of 1, 3 (harvest at maximum density) and 21 harvests over a 13-month period. The average plant standing crop decreased from 65 to 20 kg (fresh wt) m⁻² for systems with 1 and 21 harvests, respectively. Total harvested plant biomass was 67 kg (fresh wt) m⁻², 110 kg (fresh wt) m⁻² and 162 kg (fresh wt) m⁻² for 1, 3 and 21 harvests, respectively. The mean net productivity increased from 7·7 to 16·5 and 24·5 g (dry wt) m⁻² day⁻¹ for 1, 3 and 21 harvests, respectively. Nutrient storage in water hyacinth biomass (live, dead and detrital) at the end of the study decreased from 93 to 46 and 30 g N m⁻², and from 20 to 12 and 5 g P m⁻², for 1, 3 and 21 harvests, respectively. For the system with one harvest, 46% of the stored N and 25% of the stored P were recovered in dedrital tissue at the bottom of the tank. For the systtem with 21 harvests, only 11% of the stored N and 15% of the stored P were recovered in detrital tissue at the bottom of the tank. Ammonium-N and soluble reactive P concentrations in the water column were significantly higher for the treatment with one harvest compared to the treatments with 3 and 21 harvests.