Environment and Ecology Research 12(2): 140-153, 2024 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/eer.2024.120205 Performance Evaluation of Gravel and Clay Pebbles Growth Beds in Aquaponics for Okra (Abelmoscus esculentus) and Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Growth and Production Wan Nur Sakinah Din 1 , Azizah Endut 2,* , Fathurrahman Lananan 3 , Nor Azman Kasan 4 1 East Coast Environmental Research Institute (ESERI), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus, Malaysia 2 Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) Office, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin,Gong Badak Campus, Malaysia 3 Faculty of Bioresource and Food Industry, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Tembila Campus, Malaysia 4 Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia Received January 7, 2024; Revised March 6, 2024; Accepted March 20, 2024 Cite This Paper in the Following Citation Styles (a): [1] Wan Nur Sakinah Din, Azizah Endut, Fathurrahman Lananan, Nor Azman Kasan , "Performance Evaluation of Gravel and Clay Pebbles Growth Beds in Aquaponics for Okra (Abelmoscus esculentus) and Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Growth and Production," Environment and Ecology Research, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 140 - 153, 2024. DOI: 10.13189/eer.2024.120205. (b): Wan Nur Sakinah Din, Azizah Endut, Fathurrahman Lananan, Nor Azman Kasan (2024). Performance Evaluation of Gravel and Clay Pebbles Growth Beds in Aquaponics for Okra (Abelmoscus esculentus) and Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Growth and Production. Environment and Ecology Research, 12(2), 140 - 153. DOI: 10.13189/eer.2024.120205. Copyright©2024 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract The study evaluates the comparison of gravel and clay pebbles as a plant growth bed for cultivating African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and okra (Abelmoscus esculentus). A recirculation aquaponic system (RAS) with a bell siphoned was used for a 16-week study period with three various media: gravel (M1), clay pebbles (M2), and a mixture of both with the ratio of 1:1 (M3). The performance comparison of different media growth beds was assessed through the growth and production of catfish and okra, as well as the effectiveness of nutrient removal from the fish tank. The results reveal statistically better okra planting performance in media containing clay pebbles M2 and M3 in terms of plant height, leaf area, and stem circumference. The specific growth rate (SGR) of okra exhibited a notably higher value in M2 and M3, reaching 3.41 ±0.06 and 3.42 ±0.09 respectively, compared to 2.33 ±0.07 in M1. Similar results of catfish growth were obtained where M2 and M3 have better performance for weight gain, survival rate (SR), and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The highest weight gained 290.50 ± 7.37 and the lowest for FCR 1.30 ± 0.03 was achieved in M3 compared to other media growth beds. Okra production was shown to be significantly greater in the growth bed containing clay pebbles M2 (4.37 ± 0.38 kg/m 2 ) and M3 (4.89 ± 0.40 kg/m 2 ) compared to gravel growth bed M1 (2.83 ± 0.24 kg/m 2 ). The resultant effects of media growth bed varieties on nutrient deficiency showed M3 removed total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), nitrite-N, nitrate-N, and total phosphorus (TP) better with percentage removal of 84.2 ± 1.42 %, 89.5 ± 1.85 %, 86.8 ± 1.22 %, and 93.1 ± 0.48 %, respectively. Therefore, the mixture of gravels and clay pebbles demonstrated a satisfactory performance of okra production as well as nutrient removal of RAS and the production of catfish production was also satisfactory. Keywords African Catfish, Clay Pebble, Gravel, Media Growth Bed, Okra, Recirculation Aquaponic System