Carbon sources for the biofloc system: a bibliometric analysis

This study aims to identify publication trends and the potential growth of published studies on the use of carbon sources used in the biofloc system. A bibliometric analysis was conducted for a sample of 82 scientific articles published during 2010–2022. The findings highlight the main researchers who publish their results in indexed journals and include the main institutions and their collaborative work networks. In the citation analysis, six clusters related to the carbon sources used in the biofloc system were recognized, identifying mainly molasses, rice bran, sugar, sugar beet by-product, but also biodegradable polymers. The studies are mainly on Nile tilapia, white shrimp and common carp. It can be concluded that the scientific productivity on the topic increased by 20.7 % between 2010 and 2022, the first works were specifically focused on identifying the effects of carbon on the productive performance of the species studied, but as research evolved, parameters of immunological responses and nutritional composition of aquatic organisms and flocs generated by different carbon sources were included. Egypt and India are the countries with the highest productivity on the subject. The study provides publication patterns and critical points as a starting point for future works.