Introduction

HAKI offers possibilities to work in research areas as immunology, nutrition, technology, reproduction and genetics, water quality. All users will have full access to HAKI services and infrastructures. The respective researchers and technicians will be assigned to support work in infrastructures and laboratories. Assistance will be provided to users in finding accommodation and transportation in the institute’s close neighbourhood.

At our installations, we mainly deal with common carp, European catfish, sterlet, and pikeperch, which are commonly propagated in- and out-of-season. From the other domesticated and wild broodstocks in our gen-banks and wintering ponds, we possess African catfish, paddlefish, grass carp, Russian and Siberian sturgeon, pike, asp, perch, and Volga pikeperch which can be used for a seasonal egg, larvae, and juvenile production in case such material would be demanded by the user. Due to the diversity of our work, our experimental systems are set in such a way to be feasible for the work on various species and classes of fish.

HAKI offers two experimental installations, recirculation, and a pond system.

MATE HAKI-OEPS (Outdoor experimental pond system)

Infrastructure: MATE HAKI-OEPS (Outdoor experimental pond system)

Location: Szarvas, HUNGARY

Web site address: https://haki.naik.hu

Contact: Uroš Ljubobratović (Ljubobratovic.Uros@uni-mate.hu)

Facilities

The HAKI OEPS installation consists of earthen ponds, and units with the following distribution are on offer for TNA:

9 ponds of 3500 m2

15 ponds of 1700 m2 8 ponds of 500 m2 and in largest ponds we offer installation of cages of the following sizes:

17 x 4 m2 (15mm mesh size)

42 x 4 m2 (30mm mesh size)

23 x 9 m2 (30mm mesh size) 6 x 18 m2 (30mm mesh size).

The ponds can be filled up with water and drained individually. The water is supplied to the ponds from the natural open surface waters (Szarvas-Békésszentandrás oxbow lake). The ponds have an electrical supply for artificial aeration and are also equipped with aerators.

The OEPS is operated by a professional staff (six persons). The pond system is suitable for experiments with different purposes (i.e. feeding tests, testing different rearing technology, management, and technological elements; ecosystem modeling, etc.).

Services currently offered by the infrastructure

This installation is suitable for outdoor trials in various rearing systems, from extensive to super-intensive, enabling a wide range of possible trials on the applicability of different feed additives; nutrient dynamics in pond ecosystems; integrated fish production systems i.e. combination of ponds and cages; nutrient remediation experiments in wetlands and ponds.

Modality of access

On average each user or user group is expected to stay 30 days at the infrastructure. Access to the infrastructure is expected to last 4-12 weeks depending on the nature of the trial. There are two types of accesses which are usually carried out at our infrastructure. Either the lead researcher is present throughout the whole access, or the lead researcher is present at the beginning and the end of the trial while the daily routines, monitoring, and data collections are done by our staff and supervised by either an internal expert or another researcher involved in the study at the time of proposal preparation. We are highly recommending to the potential users to communicate with us at least two months before the proposal writing so we could offer our assistance and integrate the plan into our agenda.

All users will be allowed full access to the institute’s experimental, laboratory, and office facilities necessary to perform the work described. Likewise, users will be assigned relevant researchers and technicians for assistance in all methodological issues and material needs connected to the trials. Fish material in terms of species and class will be properly prepared for the trials.

The operation of the experimental system will be integrated with a professional team for sampling (i.e. water, sediment, plankton, fish, etc.) and in situ measurements (i.e. oxygen, conductivity, pH, turbidity, temperature, etc.) and with professional analytical laboratories (equipped – among others – with water, TOC analyzer, atomic absorption, and ICP spectrometry) for water, sediment, soil, tissue, plant, etc. analysis, as well.

The researchers of the institute will share their knowledge (on fish genetics, immunology, nutrition, aquaculture production, wastewaters, irrigation, and aquatic ecosystems) and practical experiences with the guest and also can help to organize the logistics if necessary.

Unit of access

The unit of access is defined as 1 ha/week. One typical access consists of 20 units of access for OEPS installation.