ABSTRACT

In this article, productivity and economic sustainability of integrated fish-duck farming in floodplain wetlands of East Champaran, Bihar was assessed. For which a total of six fish-duck IFS models were developed at farmers’ field in floodplain areas. Fingerlings of cultivable major carps species were stocked together at the rate of 4000 acre-1 and integrated with 150 number of Khaki Campbell ducks. Average growth rate of fishes was recorded between 27 g to 32 g month-1 , and average body weight was found to be between 465 g to 823 g. Fish yield was estimated to be 2.25 tonnes acre-1 year-1 while getting ducks and eggs as additional produces. Further, the net economic return was estimated to be Rs. 2.34 lakh acre-1 year-1. Moreover, benefit-cost ratio was found to be 1.91.

India occupies 0.55 million ha of floodplain wetlands, mostly distributed in the eastern region of India, where they are locally termed as Maun, Chaur, Dhar, Jheel, Tal, Pat, Beel and Boar (Sarkar and Borah, 2018). The floodplains are flat low-lying areas adjacent to rivers and streams experience periodical or permanent flooding, particularly during rainy season and characterized by soil with higher silt content (Meitzen, 2018). Integrated fish-duck farming enables efficient utilization of available resources, wastes recycling, provides additional income and food, and maintains ecological balance, hence considered as a sustainable farming system. Fish and duck get mutual benefits upon their co-existence, as excreta of duck containing essential nutrients is distributed evenly over the pond bottom which helps in escalation of plankton growth i.e. natural food of fishes. Also, ducks feeds on snails, tadpoles, insects and other benthic organisms which are considered either harmful or undesirable in fish ponds. Moreover, ducks help in aeration of pond water which increases the dissolved oxygen, further, during search of feed, duck excreta. Therefore, duck is often termed as “live manuring machine” and “bio-aerator” for fish pond. Fish productivity from floodplain wetlands of India varies from 0.05-1.1 tonne ha^-1 year^-1, which is much lower, and can be increased significantlyif fish based integrated farming is done in such ecosystems (Prasad et al., 2020).

 Methods of estimation

To assess fish productivity and economic sustainability of integrated fish-duck farming at farmers’ field in floodplain areas, a total of six fish-cum-duck integrated farming models were developed at different villages namely Jasauli Patti, Chandrahiya, Chintamanpur and Khairimal Jamunia of East Champaran, Bihar. The size of ponds varied from 0.25 to 0.5 acre with an average water depth of 1.5 meter. Fertilization of the ponds was done about a month before stocking by applying dung manure, urea, DAP and MOP at the rate of 1000, 45, 15 and 10 kg per acre, respectively, for the development of natural food of fishes i.e. plankton.  Fingerlings of catla and silver carp, rohu and grass carp and mrigal and common carp were stocked in 4:3:3 ratios, respectively at the rate of 4000 acre^-1 in September, 2018 having an average body weight 28.5 g. The mixture of mustard oil cake and rice bran in 1:1 ratio was given as supplementary feed merely at the rate of 1.0 % of the total fish biomass on daily basis. Khaki Campbell ducks (150 nos. acre^-1) with an average body weight 620 g were integrated and fed supplementary diets (mixture of wheat bran, paddy and maize) at the rate of 50 g day^-1 duck^-1, and rest of the feed they obtained from the pond while swimming. Management practices like, netting, liming and disease monitoring were followed throughout the culture period of one year. For the economic analysis, cost of various inputs and outputs were considered based on the current price of each and every input and output in the local market. The net income was calculated by subtracting total cost of all inputs from total output cost and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) computed by dividing the gross income to the total expenditure (Devi et al., 2014). Further, depreciation cost of capital expenditures (non-recurring input cost, like pond construction, bore-well and 5HP diesel/motor pump set) was calculated following Kahlon and Singh (1980) which is: DC = TC–SL /T, where, DC is annual depreciation cost; TC=total cost; SL= salvage value and T= economic life in years.

Growth, survival and productivity

Growth rate analysis of fishes indicated minimum average growth rate of mrigal (27.4 g month^-1) and maximum of grass carp (31.7 g month^-1) (Fig. 1). On an average 87.5 % of fishes survived till the end of one year culture period. However, growth and survival of fishes may vary greatly as it largely depends on local environmental conditions, species stocking density, ratio and size and duck variety integrated with. The average body weight was recorded between 465.2 g to 823.2 g. Moreover, fish yield was estimated to be 2.25 tonnes acre^-1 year^-1, while ducks and eggs were the additional produce. Various studies have reported fish productivity under integrated fish-duck farming between 0.8-2.8 tonnes acre^-1 year^-1. Growth analysis of ducks showed that they attained average body weight of 1.63 kg at the end of one year with the average growth rate of 28 g month^-1 (Fig. 2), and survival rate of ducks was estimated to be 90 percent. Furthermore, a total of 19620 numbers of eggs were obtained. Fish equivalent yield was calculated to be equivalent to 3.0 tonnes acre^-1 year^-1, which is two and half times higher than national average aquaculture productivity i.e. 1.215 tonnes acre^-1 year^-1 (Anon, 2018).  It is documented that fish productivity of floodplain resources in the eastern region, India lies between 0.02 to 0.45 tonne acre^-1 year^-1  without any scientific interventions (Das et al., 2019), that can be enhanced several folds if integrated fish-duck farming system is adopted and be managed scientifically.

The economic analysis of the current fish-duck integrated farming system revealed that a total of Rs. 2.57 lakh were invested which includes recurring and non-recurring expenditures as 70 and 30 percent, respectively. The gross income was estimated to be Rs. 4.91 lakh while net income was calculated and found to be Rs. 2.34 lakh. Moreover, benefit-cost ratio was found to be 1.91. Majhi (2018) reported net income from fish-duck integrated farming system as Rs. 0.89 lakh acre^-1 year^-1 from Purulia district of West Bengal, India. Furthermore, it was noted that about Rs. 84 were invested to produce one kg fish equivalent biomass. The analysis showed that feed, seed (fingerlings and ducks) and labour expenditures together contributed about 85 percent to the total recurring expenditure cost, and rest of the recurring expenditure cost was contributed by diesel, electricity and fertilizers. Usually, the cost of feed in freshwater aquaculture production systems has been accounted to be 60-70 percent of the total operational expenditure, however, in the current farming system, feed was prepared from locally available ingredients roughly priced at Rs. 17 kg^-1, which is almost 40-50 percent lesser than the commercial fish feed available in the local market. It is important to mention that total operational expenditure in the current fish-duck farming system required about 20 percent lesser cost than most of the aquaculture systems in which commercial diets are supplied, while getting no lesser productivity. The fish-cum-duck integrated farming system has immense potential to provide improved food and nutritional security, employment, and to uplift livelihood status of the fish farmers in the eastern region, India.

Table 1. Economics of integrated fish-duck farming system in floodplain ecosystems

SN.	Resource		Unit	Resource input		Rate  (Rs./unit)		Amount (Rs.)
A	Recurring input
	Labor		Man-days		105	250		26250
	Diesel		Liter		160	70		11200
	Electricity		kWh		637	6		3822
	Fish fingerlings		kg		80	300		24000
	Duck		kg		60	200		12000
	Feed
	Mustard oil cake		kg		1200	18		21600
	Rice bran		kg		1100	13		14300
	Wheat bran		kg		1000	16		16000
	Paddy		kg		1000	15		15000
	Maize		kg		1000	Fish-cum-duck integrated farming in floodplain ecosystems technology assessment and refinement.pdf COMMENTS N/A LEAVE A COMMENT Re-generate Submit Comment Volume Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 10 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 9 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 8 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 7 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 6 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 5 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 4 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 3 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 2 Oct, 2024 Volume : 5 Article : 1 Food and Scientific Reports × Submit After submit check your Mail Inbox. Subscribe to our notifications for the latest news and updates. You can disable anytime. Later Subscribe Unable to get permission to Notify. Kindly go to Browser settings and Allow to permission for the latest news and update.