Topic 3
INTEGRATED FISH FARMING SYSTEM
IN BANGLADESH

3.1 CONCEPT AND POTENTIAL OF INTEGRATED FISH FARMING

Integrated fish farming is a system of producing fish in combination with other agricultural/livestock farming operations centered around the fish pond. The farming sub-systems e.g. fish, crop and livestock are linked to each other in such a way that the byproducts/wastes from one sub-system become the valuable inputs to another sub-system and thus ensures total utilization of land and water resources of the farm resulting in maximum and diversified farm output with minimum financial and labour costs.

In a proper fish, crop and livestock integrated farming system, the possible inter sub-system interactions are - excreta and waste feed from livestock sub-system act as manure and feed for fish as well as can be used as manure for crop land. By-product/wastes of crop can be used as feed, manure for the fish pond and as feed for livestock. Nutrient rich bottom silt and water of pond can be a good source of fertilizers for the crop land. It thus appears that the different sub-systems in an integrated system are beneficially inter-linked to each other in a limited area, minimizing the production costs but resulting in a diversified outputs viz. fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, fuel wood and fodder which are the basic need of a farm family.

Fig.3.1 Interlinking in an integrated fish-crop-livestock farming system.

In Bangladesh 60 % of the farmers have less than 0.8 ha farm size which also limits space for taking up additional and diversified farming activities. Integrated fish farming on the other hand offers opportunity for taking up diversified farming activities with optimum utilization of available land space for food production, thus increasing household income of small farmers.

Currently, the farmers mainly practice mixed farming system, where crop/fishery/ livestock sub-systems are independent of each other.

Fish-livestock production in combination with planted crops on pond dykes could be a workable pattern of an integrated system.

The inter-linking is easy: the farm animal produce organic manure for fertilization of agricultural land and fish pond - the crops and plants provide food for animals, fish and man - the nutrient rich pond humus can provide fertilizer to the crop land.

In Bangladesh, the possibilities exist for integrated fish culture with livestock production. There are about 47–48 million cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats and more than 90 million chickens and ducks in the country. Most of the excreta of these animals is not properly utilized and become wastes which may cause environmental pollution to some extent. If these livestock wastes could be applied in fish ponds through integrated fish farming system, fish production could be increased substantially (in optimal case 4–5t/ha/yr) without using any other fertilizer or supplementary feed for fish.

3.2 FISH FARMING INTEGRATED WITH LIVESTOCK

Animal wastes in integrated fish farming

Animal wastes and waste feed particles which enter the food web of a pond ecosystem are utilized in several ways:

• As a source of nutrients required for primary production;

• As nutrients and organic substrates for heterotrophic micro-organisms which in turn may be consumed directly by fish or by invertebrate fish food organisms;

• Directly consumed by the fish.

Fig.3.2 A diagrammatic representation of the breakdown of animal manure in fish pond (after Delmendo, 1980)

values of animal wastes

Animal manures contain major inorganic nutrients (N,P,K) as well other trace elements viz. Ca, Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mg. Out of the available nutrients in fresh animal manure about 72–79% of nitrogen, 61–87% of the phosphorus and 82–92% of potassium are recovered from the feeds fed to animals which could be utilized for fish production and hence their role in fish culture is highly appreciated. Waste output in the form of urine and faeces varies considerably in quantity and quality (Urine comprising about 40% by weight of the total waste excretion per day). The distribution of nutrients in faeces and urine also vary. Urine contains higher levels of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) than in faeces. A higher level of phosphorous (P) is found in the faeces of animals except pigs which have high phosphorous in urine (Delmendo, 1980).

In integrated fish farming the poultry can provide the most valuable manure because of high concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Under local conditions the quality of manure is determined by the following factors:

• the time and method of storage
• soil or bedding material content of the manure
• whether the manure contains urine or not.

Storage of animal waste

Nutrient value of animal manure usually deteriorates during storage. The changes occur in all aspects of the quality (physical, chemical and biological). The loss of nitrogen is substantial. Under the prevailing climatic conditions expected loss might be more than 90%. The ammonia (NH₃), nitrate (NO₃) and nitrite (NO₂) do simply volatilize into the air. The deterioration is faster under aerobic conditions with high temperature. It is always better to use animal wastes when they are fresh.

If the animal wastes are stored before using in the fish pond, following points are to be considered:

• make storage time as short as possible;
• store in a container or a pit, covered with polyethylene or mud;
• try to store animal wastes in a cool place to avoid high temperature.

Prejudices to Fish/Livestock Integration in Bangladesh

a. Multipurpose use of wastes

Cattle and buffalo manure is widely used as fuel in the rural area. Chicken manure is also being used as fertilizer in crop land. In such cases, it has to be calculated carefully whether the use of manure in integrated fish culture would be able to produce more benefit for the farmer over its other uses.

b. Dislike using animal wastes in fish ponds

A large number of farmers in rural Bangladesh are reluctant to handle and apply animal excreta in fish ponds. Some of them also hesitate to eat fishes raised out of integrated fish-poultry farming where fish consume fresh poultry manure directly.

c. Multipurpose use of pond

Most of the ponds in Bangladesh are built for serving various social functions such as raising foundations for houses, bathing, washing, cooking and even for drinking. Adoption of integrated fish-livestock farming, is not possible in many ponds, particularly in homestead ponds, because of the use of water for domestic purposes.

d. Public health risks

The dangers of fish acting as vectors for human pathogens are still not clear. Public health aspects of fish produced in human wastes might be expected to be more serious than those of animal/fish integration. Researchers have made comparative studies of natural fish populations and those grown using cattle manure or effluent. Large numbers of bacteria, including potential pathogens were found in skin, gill and intestine of the fish cultured using manure or efficient; but tissues and blood appeared sterile on both groups. This suggests that the consumption of fish cultured in waters containing animal manure would not cause a health risk greater than that of fish caught from natural waters.

3.2.1 Fish cum Poultry System

General Consideration

In most of the agricultural farms, extensive fish culture and extensive poultry raising is practiced, but the two systems are not interlinked. To develop an integrated system of poultry production and fish culture, the first thing a farmer has to reorganize is the poultry raising and the stocking structure of fish. Although fish production is the more profitable component, in a integrated system the profitability of poultry sub-system (even if it is minimal) must also required to be a self sustaining activity be ensured, or, at least, the poultry sub-system must pay for itself.

The modern methods of poultry raising require sophisticated management which seems to be beyond the capacity of most of the rural fish farmers. It may be easier for a proven poultry farmer to integrated fish culture with his poultry rearing rather than a fish farmer integrating poultry raising in his fish farming system.

The Management of fish sub-system - as second consumer level - seem to be easier, as it is mainly “served” by the poultry sub-system.

Considering consumer's preference and local price structure, only three types of poultry farming is economically viable.

1. Chicken egg production
2. Duck egg production
3. Chicken meat (broiler) production in selected places

3.2.1.1 Fish sub-system in integrated farming

While designing the fish sub-system, both fish production conditions as well as the type of wastes/by-products expected from other sub-systems that are to be recycled in fish pond are to be evaluated. Except for modifications in the design to accommodate the poultry/crop sub-system, the rest remains more or less similar to normal polyculture system.

a. Size of pond

Considering rural conditions, mainly the smaller ponds can be used for integrated fish culture. Majority of the homestead ponds are suitable for this purpose. Generally 0.5–1.5 bigha size is easily manageable by small farmers.

b. Depth of pond

Any pond that retain 2–3 m water can be considered as suitable. However, the determining factor is the water depth in dry season. Minimum of 1.5m of water depths is essential even during the summer season. In low water depth the danger of organic over-loading is high from the poultry sub-system and that may cause fish kills in the summer months.

Fish pond management

The basic management practices in integrated fish pond are more or less similar to that of simple polyculture system.

Pond preparation, daily routines, sampling, harvesting, and health care are same as for polyculture system and have already been discussed under Topic 2.

However, fish species combination has to be adjusted according to the type of the livestock sub-system to be integrated. There should be very little or no supplementary feeding and fertilization of the pond water.

Selection and stocking rate of fish species

Considerations for selection:

• The selected species should be compatible with each other

• The species and their combination ratio should be adjusted according to the amount of feed stuff and manure that are expected to be made available by the other sub-system

• As far as possible the species should fast growing

• Selected fish should be hardy and resistant to common diseases and parasites

• The species should be able to tolerate low oxygen levels and high organic content in the water.

The species combination and stocking ratio may vary according to the local requirements and possibilities. A general guideline on the fish stocking density and species ratio in an integrated fish-cum-poultry farming system is given in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2 Recommended fish species combinations and stocking in a typical integrated fish-cum-poultry farming system

* Partial harvesting and possible re-stocking is recommended.

Recommended size of stocking material

Size of the stocking material also depends upon the level of management. In a well prepared pond, fingerling of the size of 5–10 cm may be stocked. However, if the pond is not poisoned or dewatered, larger size fingerlings 10–15 cm should be stocked.

These guidelines are suitable for a semi-intensive production level, based on a poultry sub-system. If the organic waste requirement falls short of supply from the integrated livestock sub-system, stocking density of fish should be decreased, otherwise supplementary feeding and manuring would be necessary.

If the fish sub-system is supported by other by-products, or supplementary feeding, the stocking number can be increased with the species which can utilize best the added by-products/feed.

Managing proper growth rate in integrated pond

In most cases of integrated culture system the waste output from livestock component remain constant during the production cycle. While during the initial phase of fish rearing the biomass of fish is not big enough for full utilization of available nutrients. As a result, initially the growth rate of fish is high. The larger the fish, the more absolute amounts of food is required in order to sustain its potential growth and maintain its body weight. As soon as the biomass reaches the critical standing crop (the point when the food requirements of fish and the natural supply of feed are in balance) the growth rate starts decreasing and even may reach zero mark. In small scale integrated system supplementary feeding is not usually required. As soon as the sampling results show the pattern of decreasing growth, the biomass should be decreased by periodical partial harvesting.

3.2.1.2 Chicken sub-system

Background

Intensive production of broiler meat and egg is now common in many parts of the world. In integrated fish-cum-poultry farming system the birds are typically fed complete diets in pelleted or mash form and the manure is used fresh or as dried poultry waste. The waste recycling is the key feature of the system, and integration of fish culture with poultry raising is one of the best ways of poultry waste management.

The digestive tract of a chicken is very short, only 6 times its body length. Therefore, some of the eaten foodstuff are excreted by the chicken before being fully digested. Research has shown that about 80 percent (by dry weight) of feed stuff is utilized and digested by the poultry, leaving 20 percent for use by the fish in the integrated fish culture system. Chickens while peaking, scatter about 10% of their food over the ground. This wasted feed is utilized directly by fish. The total protein content of dry chicken excrement can be as high as 30 percent. Usually, good chicken feed stuffs have a protein content over 18 percent (Table 3.3).

Table 3.3 Composition (%) of chicken manure from different chicken-raising methods.

Source: NACA, 1989.

Benefits of fish cum chicken integration

Following are some of the additional advantages when fish culture is integrated with chicken raising on/or near the pond dykes:

• The direct discharge of fresh chicken manure to the fish ponds produces enough natural fish feed organisms without the use of any additional manure/fertilizer.

• The transportation cost of the manure is not involved.

• The nutritive value of applied fresh manure is much higher than dry and mixed with bedding materials e.g. saw dust or rice husk.

• Some parts of the manure is consumed directly by the fish.

• No supplementary feed is needed for the fish.

• No extra space is required for chicken farming. Chicken sheds can be constructed over the pond water or on the dyke.

• More production of animal protein will be ensured from the same area of minimum land.

• The overall farm production and income will increase.

Selection of species

First of all the farmer should decide whether he wants to take up egg or meat production. Where the market chain is good for broiler it is preferred over layers because the shorter broiler production period can easily be programmed with pond culture period. On the other hand, egg production of layer chickens can start only after six months of rearing. In Dhaka and Chittagong areas where there are good markets, both broiler and layer chicken are recommended for the sub-system. In the country side, only layer chicken is suggested because of consumer preference. For the purpose of integrating with fish culture the following varieties of poultry are recommended (Table 3.4).

Table 3.4. Poultry varieties recommended for integration with fish culture

Housing of birds

Chicken sheds can be constructed out of locally available materials such as bamboo, wood, tin, etc. The size depends on the number of chicken and type of chicken. Floor space, nests, ventilation, temperature regulating device, dryness, light and sanitation are the main features to be considered during shed construction. Size of the house depends on the number of birds to be kept - normally 2–3 sq. ft. area is required for a layer chicken and 1–1.5 sq. ft for a broiler.

One of the main point is to make the pen as cheap as possible and simple in design. However, it should be strong enough to last at least for 3 years. Otherwise, frequent repair and maintenance will cost more. To extend the life of bamboo structure water proof painting is recommended.

Useful considerations while constructing a chicken pen:

• Rectangular house has been found to be suitable from overall management point of view.

• Location:

  The house should be built at the most wind protected side of the pond. Storms can cause serious damages to the structure.

  If the house is constructed above the pond, it has to be carefully considered that the gap between the house floor and the pond water surface should be at least 1 foot at highest water level in monsoon period.

• Structure:

  Roof: Tin is the long lasting and perfect roof material. At roof design first have to calculate with the available length of tin sheets on the market. The tin roof should rest over a bamboo mat rice or rice straw mat to cut down heat inside the chicken house during the summer months.

  Wall: Wall material can be bamboo mat, bamboo sticks or wire mesh. Optimal height of the wall should be 120–160 cm. If bamboo mat is used, the upper 1/3 of the walls should be left free and fitted with wire mesh for light and ventilation (Fig. 3.3.a).

If the walls are built with wire mesh and supporting bamboo stick, the lower one third of the walls should be covered with bamboo mat to give protection for the chicken and nests against bad weather (Fig. 3.3.b).

Floor: The floor of a chicken house over the pond should be constructed with bamboo splits. The gap between the bamboo splits should be wide enough (1.5 – 3 cm) to let the chicken faeces drop into the pond water below, but should not be too wide so as to cause injury to the legs of the birds.

Bridge: Should be movable in order to avoid pouching and predation. Three or four linked bamboo sticks serve well as a movable bridge for the caretaker and the chickens.

Facilities in a chicken house:

• Feeders can be prepared out of tin or wood. The numbers should be sufficient to allow all the chicken to eat at the same time. If the height is too low (2 – 3 cm) the chicken will peck out too much feed.

  Simple self drinkers are suggested for use. It is more hygienic and practical than open jar. Ready made drinkers from tin are available in bigger towns and cities, but home made self drinkers can be prepared easily from ordinary tin plate and empty milk powder cans. While preparing, care should be taken so that the hole in the can should be lower than the top of the plate. Simple bamboo cane should be kept on top to avoid being overturned by the birds. One drinker should be provided for every 25 chicken.

3.3.a

3.3.b

Fig. 3.3 a.b Chicken houses on fish pond

• Laying boxes

  If layer chicken are integrated with fish farming, the use of laying nests is necessary from the time the layers are 150 – 160 days old. One laying box can be used for every 6–7 chickens. Use of some rice straw on the nest is useful. Size of laying box should be 30 × 30 × 30 cm. (Fig.3.5).

  

  Fig. 3.4 Design of laying boxes

• Sitting bars

  Fixing some sitting bars for night sleeping is recommended. Mainly in winter when cold air streams though the gaps in between the bamboo splits on the floor. The chicken sitting on the bars can protect itself from the cold by closing around its feathers. The birds are also separated from their night excreta.

• Lighting

  Artificial lighting is recommended for both layers and broilers. If electricity is available, one 60 watt bulb can be used for 100 chicken (detailed lighting program at page 42). In other places Harican (Kerosine lantern) lamps can be used.

Calculating the number of chicken for fish culture

A stocking density of 80–100 chicken per bigha of water surface has been found satisfactory enough to ensure good fish yield.

Chicken feed and feeding

To achieve good production of eggs or meat the chicken should be fed with balanced diet. In Bangladesh, suitable feed mixtures had been worked out which are used successfully by large scale chicken farms (Table 3.5).

The ingredients are available locally and can be mixed by the farmer. Some of the ingredients can be replaced with other (e.g Til oil cake with mustard oil cake) but the vitamin complex should not be changed or omitted. For small-scale egg production operations (50–200 birds), it is recommended that additional feedstuff which are easily found around the farm such as grass, crushed snail, kitchen waste etc. should be fed to the birds.

Table: 3.5. Recommended feed formula for layer and broiler chicken.

* Should be “A” quality.

Appropriate feeding guidelines are suggested for both layer and broiler chicken in Table 3.6.

Table - 3.6 Daily ration guidelines for layer and broiler chicken

Simple home made feeders and self-drinkers are suggested for use. 10–12 cm feeder length can be allowed for one chicken. The daily required feed should be given in two installments, one in the morning 8–9 am and another in the afternoon at 4–5 pm. Clean drinking water must always be made available to the birds. Lack of water, besides quickly affecting egg production, can cause dehydration, kidney damage and death. Polluted water will cause various disease problems. Water from the tube-well is better than the water from the fish pond.

Important points of management

In integrated fish farming system usually smaller number of birds are used, and it is not very difficult to manage the chicken sub-system. However, the following important points should always be considered.

Food and feeding

• Prepared feed, can be stored for 2 weeks in the dry season but not more than 1 week in rainy season. Correct storage of food stuff is very important (Fig.2.2). Decomposed or fungus infected feed must be avoided.

• The chicken should be allowed to graze for one hour a day in the afternoon.

• Food and fresh water should be kept in front of the layer, always in clean feeders and drinkers.

• Feeders and drinkers must be kept clean.

Lighting program

In the laying period, addition of some artificial light after sunset can increase the egg laying capacity by 15–20%. The use of artificial light should be started from the time the birds are 150 days old. Starting with 30 minutes a day it should be increased by 30 minutes per week, until reaching 16 hours of continuous illumination. This optimal duration should be maintained till the end of the laying period.

For broiler raising, 24 hours lighting is suggested.

Intensity and continuity of laying

Laying of eggs should start when the chicken reach 150–160 days. Egg production period is about one year. After that the flock should be changed. Layer hybrids can increase the production up to 85–90 % laying rate at the beginning. Later the intensity will decrease. With proper management a 62–65 % laying rate could be achieved with the recommended species.

Ventilation

Climate in the rainy season remains too hot and humid causing discomfort to the birds. As a result, laying often goes down to 50–55 %. Practically on farm level nothing can be done except maximizing the natural ventilation. Therefore, in the summer/rainy season, provision for additional ventilation in the chicken house should be made.

Brood stage

After laying certain number of eggs, a hen may start to brood and stop laying eggs. This can be reversed by keeping the hen under light and by not allowing it to settle on the nest. In such cases, the hens start laying eggs within a few days if they are kept locked in a small wire case.

Health Control

Every effort should be made to ensure good health of the birds. For this quality of feed and the feeding programme must be maintained. The birds should be protected from stresses caused by changes in temperature, over-crowding, excessive noise etc. As a preventive measure strict programme of vaccination against common disease must be followed. In Bangladesh, the following vaccination programme is recommended.

Broiler Chicken

Layer Chicken

In addition to vaccination programme periodic deworming of chicken should be done.

3.2.1.3 Duck sub-system

Fish-cum-duck rearing is another potential farming system for Bangladesh. Rearing ducks in fish pond has several advantages. Both the farming sub-system mutually reinforce each other.

Advantages to fish culture sub-system

• Ducks are the “volunteer aerators” while swimming and chasing each other in the pond.

• The droppings of ducks, distributed all over the pond surface, has high nutrient value and which act as manure and fish feed.

• Spilled over duck feed are also good food for fish.

Advantages to duck rearing sub-system

• Fish pond provide an excellent environment for duck.

• No additional land is required for housing ducks.

• Duck can collect considerable part of their nutrient requirements from the pond by means of eating tadpoles, some miscellaneous fish, insects, snails etc.

However, the large scale intensive or even semi-intensive duck culture based on balanced feed, has not been found profitable in Bangladesh. The reasons are:

• Ducklings of good egg laying species (pure Khaki-Campbell) are in limited supply.

• The price of balanced feed is high.

• The egg price is low in rural areas where the duck egg is mainly consumed.

In most cases, the viability of fish-cum-duck integrated system depends on the success of the duck sub-system. Therefore, some technical points are detailed which are important for keeping the duck raising profitable.

There are three duck culture methods generally used for integrated fish farming:

1. Extensive raising, in which the simple, low productive local variety of duck is used just for family consumption. The ducks are given free range to search their own food from the surroundings. The living area is thus not limited to the fish pond. In this case duck sub-system hardly supports the fish sub-system.

2. Semi-intensive raising, in which the egg laying ducks are fed at the same rate as on land and kept at a relatively high density per unit of pond area. Therefore, higher amounts of manure and uneaten duck feed (estimated to be 10 %) usually fall into the fish pond and consequently higher fish yields can be obtained. However, high priced balanced feed is required to maintain the egg production resulting in relatively higher cost of production which is difficult to be compensated by the sale of eggs in rural areas.

3. Intensive raising, in which the ducks are kept at a high density in closed conditions. The wastes regularly go into the fish pond. However, high cost of infrastructure, unavailability of balanced feed on commercial scale, need for high level of hygienic conditions etc. rule out the possibility of intensive duck culture in Bangladesh presently.

Now the question arises:

Is the fish-cum-duck integrated culture profitable in rural Bangladesh?

The answer is yes; and for this the following method is recommended :

Duck rearing facilities

Most duck houses in the tropics are built on the pond dyke rather than over the pond surface since construction costs are less and management is easy. Duck houses should be built on the dyke.

They are simple shelters which provide shade from the sun and protection from heavy rain while allowing ample circulation of fresh air. Side curtains may be required to prevent wind driven rain. Duck houses should be built with local materials such as bamboo for the frame and bamboo matting for the roof. Ducks apparently do not like wire floors, unlike chicken. They cannot grasp the slats with their feet and their feet are very sensitive to damage. Cement floor may also lead to cracked eggs. Meat ducks may be raised on an earth floor but egg layers need dry grass or hay to keep the eggs clean and prevent from cracking.

Ducks can be fed and sheltered either on floating rafts or shift structures built over the pond surface (Fig.3.5). In both cases the faecal material and uneaten food fall directly into the pond.

The house should be well protected from predators. The height of the house should be 4–5 ft. The area of house will depend on the number of ducks to be kept. Normally 4 sft. of space is required for each bird.

It has been estimated that 30–35% of the dry feed consumed by the ducks is voided as manure and that only 50–60% of the manure goes into the pond water if the ducks are housed on the dyke. By housing the ducks over the pond the costs of collecting, storing, and transporting manure are eliminated and the potential problem of environmental pollution by the manure are solved. The fish would also be able to consume the estimated 15% of granulated feed spilled by the ducks during feeding which would otherwise not be utilized if the ducks were fed on the dyke. It may be worthwhile to construct floating resting and feeding places on the pond surface if ducks are housed on the dyke to increase the efficiency of recycling the manure and the spilled feed.

Ducks cause severe erosion of fish pond dykes by climbing into and out of the water which has two adverse effects: destruction of the dike, and increased turbidity and siltation of the pond which reduces light penetration and thus the amount of photosynthesis taking place in the water column. If the duck house is located on the dike, a ramp is required for easy access.

Fig. 3.5 Duck house on the dyke and feeding platform on the pond water

If the farmer want to keep the birds on the pond they should be prevented from climbing on to the dikes by providing fence all around.

Recommended duck species

The selection of species of duck is also very important. In Bangladesh only the egg layer type ducks should be selected for the purpose. The laying capacity of local variety is limited to 70–80 eggs per year.

The most potential egg layer species of duck is the Khaki-Campbell (Anas platyrhchos) duck. It has two colour variety: the white and the brown. The adult female is 1.8–2 kg while male is 2.2–2.5 kg. Under intensive rearing system they are able to lay above 300 eggs/year. Weight of the eggs vary between 60 and 70g. The female start to lay at the age of 23–26 weeks and able to continue laying until 360–380 days old. This good layer has already been introduced and adopted in Bangladesh. The recently introduced Khaki-Campbell - Bengali runner hybrid is also a good species. Laying capacity is about 230–250 eggs/year (unpublished information from Central Duck Breeding Farm, Narayanganj). But at the farmer level, the eggs production rate is not that good.

Nursing of young ducklings

Day-old ducklings require controlled environment (temperature, feed, drinking water and space) up to 2–3 weeks, after which they can be housed near the pond. During the first week, 50–55 ducklings can be reared per m² within a heated room, with a screen floor (1–5cm mesh, 2mm gauge) to allow manure and uneaten food to fall through. Pelleted starter feed is provided in demand feeders, with clean taped water in troughs which are designed to allow access to the beak only, preventing the ducks from getting wet. Air temperature should be maintained around 30–32°c. After the third or fourth day, ducklings are released into a small enclosed pen during good weather and provided with shallow splashing pools to acclimatize them. Special care should be taken to prevent feed sticking to the heads and backs of the ducklings.

Although the duck is a waterfowl, water for swimming is not absolutely essential at any stage of duck rearing. Since ducks may not be able to swim at first, they should be allowed in shallow water for a few hours for the first few days to stimulate the development of the preen gland and allow the duckling to water proof its feathers.

Stocking density and ratio

Stocking density of duck in fish pond for optimum manuring depends on the soil fertility, average water depth and fish sub-system. Generally 70–80 duck/bigha is optimal for integrated duck-cum-fish production system. To start with a farmer should use only 25–30 ducks. With experience gained, number of ducks could be increased.

For fertilized egg production, 1 male: 5 female ratio is normal. While for commercial egg production the ratio of 1 male to 10–15 female would be better.

Duck feeds

Besides the limited amount of supplementary feed, the duck will consume frog, tadpole, mosquito and dragon fly larvae, and aquatic weeds which are generally not eaten by commonly stocked fish. With simplified semi-intensive rearing of ducks in ponds at relatively low densities, the protein content of supplementary feed can be lowered from the 18–19% digestible protein (required if raised in crowded pens) to about 11–13%. Pond water also helps to reduce heat stress which enables the ducks to keep up their feed intake.

For semi-intensive duck farming systems, the following mixed feed for grower and layer ducks are found suitable.

Giving 50–100 g crushed fresh snail daily is highly recommended. Duck weed (Lemna minor) is also preferred by ducks. Daily 125–130 g supplementary feed per duck seems sufficient for the adult layers when they have enough natural feed in the pond.

Ducks prefer wet mash due to the difficulties in swallowing dry mash. Initially the duckling should be fed 4–5 times a day. Later it can be decreased until twice a day. For adults 10cm feeder length can be used for each duck. If feeding on the pond is not possible then drinkers should be placed next to the feeders. Feeders and drinkers should be cleaned every day and dried to prevent from contamination. In daily feeding, it is better to feed the ducks by the same person.

Other useful information

Since all breeds of ducks lay either at night or early in the morning, usually before 9:30 AM, ducks should be confined in the duck house until the sun is well up and laying is completed. Ducks only in exceptional cases, lay eggs during the day time when they are in and around the pond.

Diets containing a large proportion of paddy/rice were found to be unsuitable for high yielding Khaki-Campbell type ducks which had access to little extra food from the pond.

Duck prices vary from place to place. However, prices of different sizes of ducks of two preferred varieties are given below :

Source: Central Duck Breeding Farm Narayangonj

Diseases

Duck diseases are similar to chicken but ducks are more resistant to most common diseases. However, vaccination against some of the common epizootics should be done.

Fowl cholera:

First vaccination at the age of 6 weeks followed by once in every 6 months.

Duck pleague:

Only one vaccine at the age of 7 weeks

3.3 RECORD KEEPING AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF INTEGRATED FISH-CUM-POULTRY/DUCK FARMING

Record keeping on poultry and fish production sub-systems need different type of formats (Page 22–26) but the final economic evaluation should be prepared together in one format (Format-4).

For poultry sub-system, three separate formats are required:

1. Monthly Poultry Management Expenditure Record
2. Daily Egg Laying Record
3. Income from poultry sub-system

POULTRY MANAGEMENT RECORD KEEPING FORMAT 1

POULTRY MANAGEMENT RECORD KEEPING FORMAT 2

DAILY EGG LAYING RECORD

POULTRY MANAGEMENT RECORD KEEPING FORMAT 3

INCOME FROM POULTRY SUB-SYSTEM

To help calculate the net profit of the system a sample (format-8) is shown as an example.

Production conditions: - 1 bigha pond area with 2–2.5m water depth
- 100 commercial layer hybrid on pond fed with locally mixed balanced feed
- no manuring and supplementary feeding for fish

FORMAT-4 : ECONOMICS OF FISH-CHICKEN FARMING/BIGHA

A. Operating Costs

Fish sub-system

Chicken sub-system

B. Sale Income

* Year around price in Dhaka and Chittagong. In rural area 20% less.