Integrated Fish Farming

 The principle of integrated fish farming involves

farming of fish along with livestock or/and
agricultural crops.
 This type of farming offers great efficiency in
resource utilization, as waste or byproduct from
one system is effectively recycled. 
 It also enables effective utilization of
available farming space for maximizing
production.
 The rising cost of protein-rich fish food and
chemical fertilizers as well as the general
concern for energy conservation have created
awareness in the utilization of rice and other
crop fields and livestock wastes for fish
culture. 
 Fish culture in combination with agriculture or
livestock is a unique and lucrative venture and
provides a higher farm income, makes available a
cheap source of protein for the rural population,
increases productivity on small land-holdings and
increases the supply of feeds for the farm
livestock.

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Scope of Integrated Fish Farming

 The scope of integrated farming is considerably

wide.
 Ducks and geese are raised in pond, and
pond-dykes are used for horticultural and
agricultural crop products and animal rearing.
 The system provides meat, milk, eggs, fruits,
vegetables, mushroom, fodder and grains, in
addition to fish.
 Hence this system provides better production,
provides more employment, and improves
socio-economic status of farmers and betterment
of rural economy.

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Classification of Integrated Fish Farming
  Integrated fish farming can be broadly classified
into two, namely Agriculture-fish and
Livestock-fish systems.
 Agri-based systems include rice-fish integration,
horticulture-fish system, mushroom-fish system,
seri-fish system.
 Livestock-fish system includes cattle-fish
system, pig-fish system, poultry-fish system,
duck-fish system, goat-fish system, rabbit-fish
system.

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Rice Fish Integrated System

 For the culture of fish in combination with rice,

varieties such as Panidhan, Tulsi, CR260 77, ADT
6, ADT 7, Rajarajan and Pattambi 15 and 16 are
suitable.
 These varieties not only possess strong root
systems but also are also capable of withstanding
flooded conditions.
 They have a life span of 180 days and fish
culture is possible for about four to five months
after their transplantation.
 Harvesting is done when fish attain marketable
size.
 Fish culture in rice fields may be attempted in
two ways, viz. simultaneous culture and rotation
culture. In the former, rice and fish are
cultivated together and in the latter fish and
rice are cultivated alternately.

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Horticulture Fish Integrated System

 The top, inner and outer dykes of ponds as well

as adjoining areas can be best utilized for
horticulture crops.
 Pond water is used for irrigation and silt, which
is a high-quality manure is used for crops,
vegetables and fruit bearing plants. 
 The success of the system depends on the
selection of plants. They should be of dwarf
 type, less shady, evergreen, seasonal and highly
remunerative.
 Dwarf variety fruit bearing plants like mango,
banana, papaya, coconut and lime are suitable,
while pineapple, ginger, turmeric, chilli are
grown as intercrops.
 Plantation of flower bearing plants like
tuberose, rose, jasmine, gladiolus, marigold and
chrysanthemum provide additional income to
farmers.

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Sericulture Fish Integrated System

 In this integration, mulberry is the producer

silkworm is the first consumer while fish is the
secondary consumer, ingesting silkworm faeces
directly.
 Inorganic nutrient in the silkworm faeces are
utilized by phytoplankton, and filter-feeding
fish in turn consumes heterotrophic bacteria.
 The optimum range of temperature and humidity is
15-32oC and 50-90 respectively.
 The seri-fish system provides linkages between
mulberry and pond sub-system.
 Harvested mulberry leaves are fed to silkworm and
the waste material obtained from silkworm rearing
enters fish-pond as a mixture of mulberry leaves
and silkworm excrement. 

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Duck-Fish Integrated System

 Duck-fish integration is the most common

integration in China, Hungary, Germany, Poland,
Russia and some parts of India.
 A fish-pond being a semi-closed biological system
with several aquatic animals and plants, provide
excellent disease-free environment for ducks. In
return ducks consume juvenile frogs, tadpoles and
dragonfly, thus making a safe environment for
fish.
  Duck dropping goes directly in pond, which in
turn provide essential nutrients to stimulate
growth of natural food.
 This has two advantages, there is no loss of
energy and fertilization is homogeneous.
 This integrated farming has been followed in West
Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura and Karnataka.
Most commonly used breed for this system in India
is the Indian runners.

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Chicken-Fish Integrated System

 The droppings of chicks rich in nitrogen and

phosphorus would fertilise fishponds.
 Poultry housing, when constructed above the water
level using bamboo poles would fertilise
fishponds directly. This system utilizes poultry
droppings for fish culture.
 Production levels of 4500-5000 kg/fish/ha could
be obtained by recycling pond manure into
fishponds.
 Broiler production provides good and immediate
returns to farmers. Procurement of quality
chicks, housing, brooding, feeding and disease
management are important for this type of system.
 In fish poultry integration, birds housed under
intensive system are considered best.
 Birds are kept in confinement with no access to
outside.
 Deep litter is well suited for this type of
farming. About 6-8 cm thick layer prepared from
chopped straw, dry leaves, saw dust or groundnut
shell is sufficient.

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Pig-Fish Integrated System

 This system of integration is very common in

China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and
Hungary.
 Pigs are fed largely on kitchen waste, aquatic
plants and crop wastes.
  The waste produced by 30-35 pigs is equivalent to
1 tonne of ammonium sulphate.
 Exotic breeds such have White Yorkshire, Landrace
and Hampshire are reared in pig-sty near the fish
pond.
 A floor space of 3-4 m2 is provided and boars,
sows and finish stocks are housed separately.
 Maize, groundnut, wheat-bran, fishmeal, mineral
mixes are provided as concentrate feed-mixture.

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Mushroom Fish Integrated System

 Cultivation of edible mushroom in India is quite

recent.
 Three types of mushrooms being commercially
cultivated in India are Agaricus
bisporus, Voloriella spp. and Pleurotus spp.,
commonly known as European button, paddy straw
and oyster mushroom.
 Mushroom cultivation requires high degree of
humidity and therefore its cultivation along with
aquaculture tremendous scope.
 Method of cultivation involves use of dried
paddy-straw chopped into 1.2 cm bits, soaked in
water overnight. Excess water is drained off.
Horsegram powder (8 g/kg straw) and spawn (30
g/kg straw) is added and mixed with wet straw in
alternating layers. Perforated polythene bags are
filled with substrate and kept in room at
21o-35oC with required light and ventilation.
 The mycelial growth occurs within 11-14 days.
 Polythene bags are cut open at this stage, water
is sprayed twice a day and in a few days mushroom
crop becomes ready for harvest.
 The paddy-straw after mushroom cultivation is
utilized for cattle feeding.

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Cattle Fish Integrated System

 A large population of cows and buffaloes exists

in the country which plays a vital role in the
national economy.
  Fish farming can become more production-oriented
if integrated with cattle farming.
 Cattle are allowed to graze on pond banks and
grassy areas in the vicinity and manure is either
collected or washed directly from the cattle
sheds into the ponds.
 It has been proved that in the composite fish
culture (rohu, mori, thaila and 3 Chinese carps)
when the ponds are manured with cowdung _at_ 15,000
kg/ha/year, an excellent yield of 5,000 kg
fish/ha/year can be obtained.
 Fertilization of nurseries and rearing ponds with
cowdung is a widespread practice in Pakistan.
 However, there is a strong need to standardize
the number of animals required to provide manure
per unit area of fish ponds.
 It has been estimated that fresh cowdung manure
voided by two cows is sufficient to fertilize one
ha of pond area.

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Ecosystem of Integrated Fish Farming

 Integrated fish farming system works in following

way
 Trapping of solar energy and production of
organic matter by primary producers.
 Utilization of primary producers by phagotrophs
or tertiary consumers.
 Decomposition of primary producers and
phagotrophs by saprotrophs or osmotrophs.
 Release of nutrients for producers.
 The animal waste in water body enter into the
food chain in three different ways
 Feed Certain bottom feeders like Cyprinus carpio
and Cirrhinus mrigala directly utilized the
organic particles which are generally coated with
bacteria along with other material.
 Autotrophic production Some of the decomposed
portion of waste products provides nutrients for
the micro-flora (autotrophs), while
non-mineralised portion provides food base for
bacteria and protozoa (heterotrophs).
Temperature, light, micro and macroflora,
inorganic nutrients, carbon, phosphorous and
 nitrogen are the basic inputs required for
photosynthesis process.
 Heterotrophic production
 Micro fauna (zooplankton) feed on small manure
particles coated with bacteria. In the process,
bacteria is digested while rest is excreted. In
this heterotrophic production system
 micro fauna (protozoans and zooplanktons) are
produced finally shortening food chain. This
 system of production is not linked with the
process of photosynthesis.

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Advantages of Fish farming systems

 Fish provides high quality animal protein for

human consumption.
 A farmer can often integrate fish farming into
the existing farm to create additional income and
improve its water management.
 Fish growth in ponds can be controlled the
farmers themselves select the fish species they
wish to raise.
 The fish produced in a pond are the owner's
property they are secure and can be harvested at
will.
 Effective land use effective use of marginal
land e.g. land that is too poor, or too costly to
drain for agriculture can be profitably devoted
to fish farming provided that it is suitably
prepared.

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Advantages of Integrated Fish Farming Systems

 Integrated fish farming systems utilise the waste

of live stock, poultry and agriculture byproducts
for fish production. About 40-50 kg of organic
manure can produce 1 kg of fish.
 Fish farms having an integration with mulberry
cultivation, sericulture and silk extraction from
cocoons allow the pupae to be utilised fish feed
 and the worm faeces and wastewater from the
processing factory to be used as pond
fertilisers.
 Pond silt can be used as fertiliser for fodder
crops which in turn can be used to raise
live-stock and poultry or as fish feed.
 Thus a recycling of waste is done in integrated
fish farming system.
 The scope of integration in a fish farm is
considerably wide.
 Ducks and geese may be raised on the pond, pond
dykes may be used for fruit plants and mulberry
cultivation or for raising pigs, cattle, and dyke
slopes for fodder production.
 Integrated fish farming systems not only fish but
meat, milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms
etc. can be obtained. This system fully utilizes
the water body, the water surface, the land, and
the pond silt to increase food production for
human consumption.

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Integrated Fish Farming in West Bengal
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Fisheries Development

 Strengths
 The State has large impounded resource of large
number of water bodies besides a riverine system
for fish production.
 All varieties of major and minor carps are
cultivated besides various types of local fish
species naturally available in the water bodies.
 Per capita consumption of fish is highest in
world and hence high demand for production of
fish.
 Major producer supplier of fish seed in the
country ( 65 of countrys seed is sourced from
West Bengal)
 Availability of good quality of spawn/seed from
natural as well as commercial hatcheries.
 Existence of active and functional Fishermans
cooperative societies, Fish Production Groups and
a large number
  of Self Help Groups (SHG) all over the State
contributing well for the growth of the fishery
sector.
 Pro-active Fisheries Department
 Various governmental schemes and demonstration
farms provide able support for development of
fisheries.

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Fisheries Development..continued

 Opportunities
 The state has 2.10 lakh Ha of impounded
brackish water resources in India, which is the
highest in country, but only 0.48 lakh Ha have
been developed.
 Increasing fish productivity through
development of beels baors
 Setting up of more number of hatcheries for
seed production in different districts/blocks.
 Integrated fish farming with agriculture,
horticulture, dairy, poultry, offers immense
scope for development.
 Organizing demonstration, training and
awareness camps in the fish farmers villages for
dissemination of advanced technology.
 Expansion of fishery activities through
excavation of additional tanks, renovation of
derelict tanks, desilting river beds etc.
 Promoting fish farming in canals
 Thrust on poly culture with prawns for maximum
utilization of resources.
 Promotion of paddy cum fish farming, air
breathing fish farming, crab fattening,
ornamental fish culture.
 Huge scope for inland fishery activities and
production of value added products from low cost
fish.

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Fisheries Development..continued

 Weakness
  Large water bodies are under derelict and
semi-derelict conditions.
 Lack of organized fish culture at village
level.
 Shortcomings in marketing, absence of adequate
ice plant and cold storage facilities at the
production point.
 Inadequate bank financing in the fishery
sector.
 Highly season specific activity.
 Inadequate demonstration and extension campaign
at field level.

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Fisheries Development..continued

 Threats
 Drying of natural water bodies due to extensive
use of water for irrigation and or during summer.
 High siltation restricts fish production.
 Over exploitation of fisheries resources in
sea, especially the juvenile fishing.
 Flood, natural calamities and water pollution
from indiscriminate use of pesticides in the
agricultural field are big threats to pisci
culture.