Brown, BrockAlderman, Sean2015-08-072015-08-072015-05Alderman, S. (2015). The practicality and sustainability of aquaponic agriculture versus traditional agriculture with emphasis on application in the Middle East (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/5596This thesis examines the practicality and sustainability of growing crops via aquaponic methods as opposed to traditional soil based agriculture. Furthermore it will examine the efficacy of aquaponics in terms of plant production and overall product quality. The goal is to determine whether or not aquaponic agriculture is advantageous to traditional agriculture in certain niches of industrial food production, particularly areas where environmental impact as well as reliable supply of water is an issue. An experiment designed to reliably examine both aquaponic and soil based agriculture will be constructed and monitored over the course of the semester and will be dependent on a final crop harvest once a growing cycle of three months has been completed. Variables such as dried plant weight and overall plant quality will be analyzed in order to quantify the capabilities of aquaponics as opposed to soil based growing techniques.Text22 pages1 file (.pdf)enaquaponicsagriculturehydroponicsaquaculturesustainablefarmingwater resourcesHonors College