Comparative Performance of the Polycultured Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Giant Freshwater Prawn (Macrobachium rosenbergii) in Conventional and Deep-Water Concurrent Rice Cum Fish Farming System

Ramos, Eduard; Mendoza, Dante Marcha

doi:10.21608/ejabf.2025.402270.6243

Comparative Performance of the Polycultured Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Giant Freshwater Prawn (Macrobachium rosenbergii) in Conventional and Deep-Water Concurrent Rice Cum Fish Farming System

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Pampanga State Agricultural University

10.21608/ejabf.2025.402270.6243

Abstract

Rice cum fish farming is an old practice of integrating the raising of fish in the production of rice. Morever, it is considered as a sustainable agricultural approach, combining rice and fish cultivated simultaneously to increase yield and enhance farmer’s profit. Integrated farming with the use of deep-water system is considered a viable option, particularly in flood prone areas. This study investigated the performance of tilapia and prawn in both conventional (CCRF) and deep-water (DCRF) concurrent rice-fish systems. An experiment was conducted in a 3-month period. The result revealed that there is significant difference between the two rice-fish farming systems in terms of temperature, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids and conductivity (P<0.05). Meanwhile, water quality parameters such as pH, specific gravity, salt content, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate did not bear any significant difference (P>0.05). There is also significant difference (P<0.05) between stocks in CCRF and DCRF systems in terms of harvest length and weight, indicating bigger tilapia and prawn can be obtained from deep-water than conventional system. Regarding rice performance, comparable results were observed between the two systems (P>0.05). However, economic analysis revealed that deep-water system is more viable than the conventional one. This suggests the advantage of deep-water over its conventional counterpart in simultaneously raising tilapia and prawn in rice integration.

Keywords