Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Overall, the project's target audience include: 1) Academics/Extension professionals who use prawns in their research and might benefit from using LIKE in their work. For example: U.C. Berkley Scientists (https://new.nsf.gov/news/how-fat-prawns-can-save-lives) University of Missouri extension (https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g9471) Hawaii Department of Agriculture (https://bigislandnow.com/2018/11/25/state-to-lead-free-course-on-freshwater-prawn-farming/) 2) Homeowner, hobby as well as for-profit prawn and aquaponics culturists (in the United States and abroad) who wish to automate and improve prawn seed production. For example: Arizona Aquatic Gardens (https://azgardens.com/product/freshwater-macrobrachium-rosenbergii-prawn/) Live Aquaponics (https://liveaquaponics.com/collections/live-prawns/macrobrachium-rosenbergii-for-sale) Miami Aquaculture (https://www.miami-aquaculture.com/freshwater-prawns) Aquaculture of Texas (https://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/) Enzootic (an Israeli company): (https://www.globalseafood.org/advocate/can-this-breeding-technique-breathe-new-life-into-giant-freshwater-prawn-farming/#:~:text=By%20focusing%20only%20on%20the,focus%20on%20%E2%80%9Csuper%20females.%E2%80%9D) 3) Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Engineering students and faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV, the second largest Hispanic Serving Institution in the nation) where this project is being executed. This will be expanded upon below. 4) Practicing agricultural producers in the predominantly Hispanic Lower Rio Grande Valley who engage with faculty and students from UTRGV to solve their agriculture problems. UTRGV Community This grant proposes to impact mostly students and faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) along with agricultural practitioners in the surrounding communities of Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties. These counties in 2022 was just under 1.4 million inhabitants. The following is a breakdown of the demographics of the sub-populations served by the project. RGV Community The lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) has had a long history of agriculture which is known to attract migrant farm workers from Mexico, many of whom settled in the area. It is the only sub-tropical region of Texas with a long growing season and a mild climate favoring many kinds of crops and land-based aquaculture in the form of shrimp farming. The area has an extensive irrigation system (consisting of over 2,000 miles of irrigation canals and pipelines which service 25 water districts in 3 counties, Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr) that bring fresh water from the Rio Grande River to as far as 18 miles north of the river. The four counties served by UTRGV were made up of mostly Hispanic inhabitants (average 92 %) with almost 77% of households speaking a language other than English at home (2022 US Census statistics). Roughly 15% of the population over 25 years of age had a Bachelor's degree. About 30 percent were in poverty with 28% under 65 years of age having no health insurance and the median household income was under $41,000. UTRGV Students About ninety-two percent of the UTRGV student body comes from the four counties (Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, Starr) served by the university. The University's Fall 2022 enrollment (undergraduate and graduate) was just over 31,000 students (approx. 90.9% Hispanic and 60.29% female). About 85.4% of the student body was undergraduate (average age 22, 74% full time). Because of the low socio-economic status of the region, over 60% of the undergraduates received financial aid via Pell Grants. UTRGV is comprehensive (colleges span Education, Engineering, Computer Science, Arts, Health, Medicine, Sciences and Business). This grant primarily serves students in the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences (CECS, enrollment just under 4,037) and more specifically, the department of Mechanical Engineering which is the largest engineering department with almost one quarter of the CECS student body. The grant builds upon a recently concluded USDA award which sought to engage more engineers in agriculturally related projects. In this project, Mechanical engineering student teams are engaged via their year-long Capstone Senior Design course or via internships called MAGIs (MakerSpace Agriculture Internships) due to the use of the MakerSpace resources and community that the students utilize in their projects. UTRGV Faculty In 2022 University was home to 1,901 faculty (70.5% full time, 45% female). Current faculty serving in CECS is about 148. Now that more agriculture related projects (ALP) are being done in CECS, the repertoire of expertise that students can tap into for project advice has expanded which is one of the benefits realized from previous/present grant funded ALPs and the history of participation that faculty now have in ALPs. Changes/Problems:In June of 2024, Co-PI Dr. Joanne Rampersad-Ammons and project Consultor Dr. David Ammons resigned from the project. Since then, the PI has procured individuals with the necessary expertise to adjust the project activities and achieve the projected goals. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training of 6 undergraduate engineering students involved in the project: The engineering senior design team of 4 students in charge of improving the LIKE system design. A team of 2 undergraduate engineering students working as research assistants and focusing on specific improvements of the LIKE system. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The PIs have presented at various regional and national conferences on the topic of food security and multidisciplinary collaboration. Students have presented at various regional and national conferences showcasing their posters on their specific research projects. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A no cost extension has been approved for the project from September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2025. In this period, these are the work plan: Help supervise engineering students design and prototype a LIKE system that is reliable using commercially available technology. Help supervise marine biology/biology students assisting with experiments development and organism care. Improve the system to use commercially available food. Improve the food dispensing system and dosage, select appropriate tanks that are easier to maintain, improve the oxygen diffusion approach (from propellers and fins to macro bubbles). Develop the LIKE protocols for commercial users (i.e., users guide) for operations, prophylactic measures, food dosage, and troubleshooting. Procure the larvae, food, chemicals, and other resources to run experiments with the LIKE system at UTRGV's research lab. Student recruitment and from Marine Biology and Biology to work on the project as undergraduate research assistants. Supervise students taking research class, review student reports and poster presentations related to the project. Facilitate access to research facilities such as the Coastal Studies Lab and procure the support and coordination with the Lab staff.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Design The objective of the LIKE System was to create an inexpensive method of growing prawn larvae that would remove the considerable time and effort currently required to produce post larvae.After multiple iterations of the system, the following configuration was found to achieve this goal: A 200-micron screen is placed in the culture tank from which water is pumped to a 5-micron filter bag, which flows by gravity to a biofilter where it is treated with ultraviolet light, aerated, and detoxified. The cleaned water is returned by gravity to the culture tank. Using a system of timed air currents augmented by a rotating propeller, larvae and feed are redistributed in the culture tank to allow optimal larval feeding. This represents the basic LIKE system. Operation Basic configuration With the 200-micron screen in place, artemia is added to the water with light aeration sufficient to keep the larvae from aggregating but not strong enough to inhibit their feeding. Aeration is very important because without it the high concentration of larvae cultured in the LIKE System will aggregate and begin to rotate where they form a vortex that appears like a mini tornado that inhibits their feeding. This phenomenon is demonstrated in a video posted to YouTube that can be viewed via the following link: https://youtu.be/bET2ZveXYpQ Artemia Management Once a day, the 200-micron screen is replaced with a 400-micron screen to remove uneaten/ old artemia after which fresh artemia is added and the 5-micron bag is cleaned and replaced. Custard Management Once the larvae reach stage 4 to 5, they are also fed custard (a homemade egg-based feed) and the system and operation are slightly modified. An air pump supplying air to two air stones and the propeller are each placed on a timer where every 5 minutes the propeller comes on for 5 seconds and the air for 30 seconds. The propeller will lift all the uneaten feed off the bottom and suspend it briefly in the water while the two air stones will create sufficient current to distribute the food throughout the tank. Thus, the prawn larvae are being effectively fed every 5 minutes. An example of the food being lifted off the bottom and distributed throughout the tank can also be viewed in the video referenced above. Normally a need is not found to remove old feed since it is constantly reintroduced to the larvae and ultimately all eaten. However, if required a small container can be suspended in the tank which creates a dead zone where on every 5-minute cycle, food falls into it and cannot escape. Depending on the size of the container, it requires about 30 minutes to an hour to remove almost all the food. When eating custard, the prawn larvae create small particles of food that we term "crumbs". These particles are too small to be effectively eaten and are removed at the same time as the old artemia larvae when the 200-micron screen is replaced with the 400-micron screen. As the larvae get bigger, larger sized screens can be used in place of the 400-micron screen. It has been found that 600- and 800-micron screens work effectively during the last six larval stages. Maintenance Aside from daily cleaning of the screen and the 5-micron filter bag, it is necessary to scrub the bottom and sides of the tank once near the end of the culture period when a slight buildup of biofilm material is observable. Growth rate For several years prior to this work, larvae were successfully raised to post larvae (PL) without experiencing any major forms of die-off or impediments to larval growth. However, something got into our system that causes the larvae to suddenly stop developing during one of the later stages and ultimately die. We call this Late Mortality Syndrome (LOS). In determining the cause, water was replaced, source of the water was replaced, the tanks were replaced, the biofilters were drained, cleaned and re-established, different substrate was utilized within the biofilters, all new feed ingredients was purchased and utilized, the custard recipe was modified to remove anything that was not defined (e.g., meat, flour etc., that may have hormones or other chemicals in it). Even the LIKE system itself was replaced with the old method of culturing larvae that was used successfully prior to this work. In all cases, the problem persisted. A decision was made therefore to collect growth data up until the point that the larvae experienced growth problems. The growth rate in the LIKE system is about twice that reported in the literature, or about one stage per day. For example, using 140 larvae per liter, it took 10 days to reach stage 9, then the LOS problem mentioned above manifested itself and it took an additional 6 days to see the first stage 10 larvae. Therefore, if the problem did not exist, we would expect growth rates that produce PL on approximately day 14 which is one to two weeks faster than what is reported in the literature. Concentration The highest concentration of larvae that we attempted to culture was approximately 1,000 larvae per liter. For example, in one trial, it took 10 days to get to stage 8 with approximately 1,000 larvae per liter, before the larvae growth ceased and they began to die. Compared to the recommended growth densities between 50 and 100 larvae per liter, the larvae were able to show excellent growth rate at 10 to 20 times the recommended concentration. Summary Over the duration of the project, 12 different batches of larvae were cultured requiring approximately 30 days between each batch. As briefly described above, preliminary data suggests that the methodology utilized by the LIKE system can resolve the current difficulties in supplying sufficient PL required to support a national prawn industry.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Vargas Hernandez, N., Robles, S., & Rampersad-Ammons, J. (2024). Food Security: At the Intersection of Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Agriculture. Proceedings of the 6th Annual RGV STEM Education Conference. 6th Annual STEM Education Conference, South Padre Island, TX. https://dx.doi.org/10.51734/CRUW5436
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Growing Together: Sustainability as the Catalyst for Transdisciplinary Skill Building in STEM Education, Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability Summit, South Padre Island, January 31, 2024
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Sylvia A. Robles, Noe Vargas Hernandez, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons, 2024, Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Sustainability's Impact on Inclusive Transdisciplinary Skills in STEM, 7th Annual STEM Education Conference, South Padre Island, TX, February 26-27, 2024
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Noe Vargas Hernandez, Sylvia A. Robles, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons, 2024, Students Experiences in Transdisciplinary Food Security Projects for the RGV Community, SIPCE's 2024 Conference for Interdisciplinary Research, Weslaco, TX, April 11-12, 2024.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Noe Vargas Hernandez, Sylvia A. Robles, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons, 2024, The Art of Collaboration: Conflict Deactivation Protocols, VentureWell OPEN 2024 Conference, San Diego, CA, March 18-20, 2024
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Luis Alvarez, Suzette Zenteno, David Ammons, Noe Vargas, Joanne Rampersad, 2024, AUTOMATED PRAWN FEED SYSTEM (PFS) WITH PROGRAMMABLE TIMER, Aquaculture America 2024, San Antonio, TX, February 18-21, 2024. (HONORABLE MENTION, POSTER)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Joanne Rampersad-Ammons, Sylvia Robles, Noe Vargas Hernandez, 2024, USING AQUACULTURE TO ADDRESS A FOOD SECURITY MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION MODEL, Aquaculture America 2024, San Antonio, TX, February 18-21, 2024. [POSTER]
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Sylvia A. Robles, Noe Vargas Hernandez, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons, 2023, Catalyzing Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education Ecosystems Innovation, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Webinar, October 11, 2023
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Noe Vargas Hernandez, Sylvia A. Robles, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons, 2023, International Center for Sustainability Across the Curriculum (IC-SAC) 2023 Conference, McAllen, TX, November 10-11, 2023.
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Groups, Market segments, or Communities (racial/ethnic/ and socially/Economically/Educationally disadvantaged) served by the project. Overall, the project's target audience include: 1) Academics/Extension professionals who use prawns in their research and might benefit from using LIKE in their work. For example: U.C. Berkley Scientists (https://new.nsf.gov/news/how-fat-prawns-can-save-lives) University of Missouri extension (https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g9471) Hawaii Department of Agriculture (https://bigislandnow.com/2018/11/25/state-to-lead-free-course-on-freshwater-prawn-farming/) 2) Homeowner, hobby as well as for-profit prawn and aquaponics culturists (in the United States and abroad) who wish to automate and improve prawn seed production. For example: Arizona Aquatic Gardens (https://azgardens.com/product/freshwater-macrobrachium-rosenbergii-prawn/) Live Aquaponics (https://liveaquaponics.com/collections/live-prawns/macrobrachium-rosenbergii-for-sale) Miami Aquaculture (https://www.miami-aquaculture.com/freshwater-prawns) Aquaculture of Texas (https://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/) Enzootic (an Israeli company): (https://www.globalseafood.org/advocate/can-this-breeding-technique-breathe-new-life-into-giant-freshwater-prawn-farming/#:~:text=By%20focusing%20only%20on%20the,focus%20on%20%E2%80%9Csuper%20females.%E2%80%9D) 3) Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Engineering students and faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (the second largest Hispanic Serving Institution in the nation) where this project is being executed. This will be expanded upon below. 4) Practicing agricultural producers in the predominantly Hispanic Lower Rio Grande Valley who engage with faculty and students from UTRGV to solve their agriculture problems. UTRGV Community This grant proposes to impact mostly students and faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) along with agricultural practitioners in the surrounding communities of Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties. These counties in 2022 was just under 1.4 million inhabitants. The following is a breakdown of the demographics of the sub-populations served by the project. RGV Community The lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) has had a long history of agriculture which is known to attract migrant farm workers from Mexico, many of whom settled in the area. It is the only sub-tropical region of Texas with a long growing season and a mild climate favoring many kinds of crops and land-based aquaculture in the form of shrimp farming. The area has an extensive irrigation system (consisting of over 2,000 miles of irrigation canals and pipelines which service 25 water districts in 3 counties, Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr) that bring fresh water from the Rio Grande River to as far as 18 miles north of the river. The four counties served by UTRGV were made up of mostly Hispanic inhabitants (average 92 %) with almost 77% of households speaking a language other than English at home (2022 US Census statistics). Roughly 15% of the population over 25 years of age had a Bachelor's degree. About 30 percent were in poverty with 28% under 65 years of age having no health insurance and the median household income was under $41,000. UTRGV Students About ninety-two percent of the UTRGV student body comes from the four counties (Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, Starr) served by the university. The University's Fall 2022 enrollment (undergraduate and graduate) was just over 31,000 students (approx. 90.9% Hispanic and 60.29% female). About 85.4% of the student body was undergraduate (average age 22, 74% full time). Because of the low socio-economic status of the region, over 60% of the undergraduates received financial aid via Pell Grants. UTRGV is comprehensive (colleges span Education, Engineering, Computer Science, Arts, Health, Medicine, Sciences and Business). This grant primarily serves students in the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences (CECS, enrollment just under 4,037) and more specifically, the department of Mechanical Engineering which is the largest engineering department with almost one quarter of the CECS student body. The grant builds upon a recently concluded USDA award which sought to engage more engineers in agriculturally related projects. In this project, Mechanical engineering student teams are engaged via their year-long Capstone Senior Design course or via internships called MAGIs (MakerSpace Agriculture Internships) due to the use of the MakerSpace resources and community that the students utilize in their projects. UTRGV Faculty In 2022 University was home to 1,901 faculty (70.5% full time, 45% female). Current faculty serving in CECS is about 148. Now that more agriculture related projects (ALP) are being done in CECS, the repertoire of expertise that students can tap into for project advice has expanded which is one of the benefits realized from previous/present grant funded ALPs and the history of participation that faculty now have in ALPs. Changes/Problems:Major delays were experienced from the lengthy time taken to obtain permissions and put consultant paperwork into place. In spite of this, the consultant spent considerable effort to move the project along with no pay. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Six undergraduate students have been involved in various aspects of the project. A team of 4 students worked on a prototype mixer for the 35- 55 gallon system based on a rotating propeller. This has been tested and gave promising larval growth rates and elevated stocking densities. A team of two students worked on a prototype feeder that can be used with any feed type and which can be set to automatically feed using user inputted custom times. This team was also coached on poster presentation at a professional meeting and will be presenting their work at the Aquaculture America 2024 meeting in San Antonio. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Four presentations were done by our faculty team (Robles, Rampersad and Vazquez Hernandez) at various professional meeting venues on various aspects of implementing authentic learning experiences that are agriculturally based. One extended abstract is in press. A poster abstract on the feeding system will be presented at Aquaculture America 2024 which will have an extremely large international audience made up of researchers, policy makers and producers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to use the experimental scale set up to test various water quality and broodstock feed parameters to determine why seemingly healthy prawn larvae die at metamorphosis to post larvae improve the 55 gallon scale Like system based on the propeller mixer. test the feeder system and its utility on the experimental and 55 gallon scale system present our findings on the feeder at the Aquaculture America 2024 conference present our strategies for authentic learning experiences at the Aquaculture America 2024 conference and at ? workshop that we have been invited to Begin data collection on the 55 gallon scale to document the system utility once the experimental scale system is delivering robust results
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Design and optimize LIKE components for easy accessibility, cost, ease of use, maintenance and performance on a 55 gallon and approximately 500 gallon scale. Two scaled LIKE systems have been designed and used in the past year. The 10 gallon experimental system was utilized to check water quality parameters for an initial hatchery run. The hatchery cycle was completed within acceptable parameters. A second system using variable larval growing containers (35-55 gallons) with a 55 gallon biofilter was set up and several hatchery runs completed. The following are highlights of these runs: Pulsing (turning the mixer on for short time (30 sec) and then off for 5 min) gave about 12 feedings per hour. Pulsing was better that leaving the mixer on all the time as it minimized wear on the mixer system while allowing fast larval growth. In these initial runs exact on/off times varied a bit depending on larval stage. This pulsing needs to be investigated further and optimized. Biofilters worked very well, showing no nitrogenous wastes. We no longer use plants to remove the nitrate and have found bacteria to remove it along with ammonia and nitrite. This significantly improves/simplifies nitrogenous waste removal. The inside of the tank must be dark, black preferred, or the artemia and larvae will group-up on the sides of the tank. Although the larvae grew well in barrels that were colored black with both paint and gelcoat, the coatings would not hold to the plastic and flaked off. We used an easy to obtain, low cost 35 gal black trashcan, which worked very well and will be trying an easy to obtain 55 gal trash can. This also has the advantage of providing a widely available source of 'tanks' for individuals that want to utilize this system. Aeration, water pumping rate and screen sizes to retain both larvae and artemia, or to hold larvae and remove older uneaten artemia have been worked out. Finally, the only problem that we are aware of is a strange die off as the larvae metamorphose to post larvae. In the years of working with prawns we have never encountered this. We will be conducting a series of experiments to determine the source of this die-off. Once this problem is resolved, final designs, protocols, will be established and performance data collected. Objective 2: Use the assembled components to obtain the production and operational data with live organisms by establishing an adult breeding population This has been accomplished. Several support systems have been developed and implemented to maintain the breeding population. For example, a continuous production soldier fly bin based on waste oranges and other fruits has been established and has been running for almost a year. Black Soldier fly larvae are a good source of protein, calcium and fats. A continuous production floating algae unit has been set up and maintained for almost a year. The Lemna species that is being utilized has leaves small enough for the prawns to consume and are relatively high in protein, vitamins and fiber. performing system- level optimization of the LIKE system with live organisms We have done some initial optimization on the 35-55 gallon scaled system, so we have a good idea of some of the culture parameters. System optimization at 35-55 gallon scale will be placed on hold so that we can focus on minimizing the die-off issue. While no system will support 100% survival, we would like to minimize larval mortality as much as possible. Due to the complexity and effort required, these experiments will be done on experimental scale and once a robust system/protocol is developed, then we will attempt larger scale culture runs. collecting performance and operational data on the optimized system. This aspect will be placed on hold till the experimental scale runs are performing robustly. disseminating this performance and operational data in a manner that technically literate and lay audiences can understand and utilize. We are starting to disseminate information on subsystem components such as the feeding system.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Robles, S. A., Rampersad-Ammons, J. N., Vargas Hernandez, N. (in press). High Impact Sustainable Transdisciplinary Collaboration Model for Food Justice. Journal of the International Council for Small Business. https://icsb.org/jicsb/
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Noe Vargas Hernandez, Sylvia Robles, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons. 2023. Food Security: at the Intersection of Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Agriculture, 6th Annual Stem-Ed Conference, Courtyard by Marriot, South Padre Island, Feb 16-Feb 17, 2023.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Sylvia Robles, Noe Vargas Hernandez, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons. 2023. High Impact Sustainable Transdisciplinary Collaboration Model for Food Justice, 2023 International Council for Small Business World Congress, Gwangiu, South Korea, July 9-14, 2023.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Noe Vargas Hernandez, Sylvia Robles, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons. 2023. Food Security: at the Intersection of Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Agriculture, OPEN 2023, Venturewell, Washington, D.C., March 23, 2023
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Noe Vargas Hernandez, Sylvia Robles, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons. 2023. Providing Students with Authentic Learning Experiences: Engineers, Entrepreneurs, and Agriculturalists Collaborating Towards Food Security, 2nd Annual Conference for Interdisciplinary Research, UTRGV Edinburg Ballroom, March 30, 2023.
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