Fish Rearing in Faddy Fields on the Agricultura Research Station, Aduturai, Tanjore District

Abstract

There are over a million acres of wet land of very flat nature in the Cauvery delta which are under swamp paddy from June to January. The irrigation source is the Cauvery river and its numerous distributories. Water from the river is conveyed through the main channels from which, branch or field channels take off and deliver the water direct into the paddy fields. With the construction of the Mettur Reservoir, the supply of water has been so well regulated that there is hardly any dearth of supply at any time during the irrigation season. With such assured water supply for 8 months in the year the writer, as Superintendent in charge of the Agri- cultural Research Station, Aduturai, thought it worth while to start rearing of fish in paddy fields with suitable precautions. The experiment was started in 1933-34 paddy season. As indigenous varieties of fish including many species of carps naturally occur in the river water, artificial rearing of the fry was not attempted, but precautions were taken to see that fish that once entered the block of land selected for the experiment were never allowed to escape, by the provision, at the drainage vents of 'V' shaped bamboo screens which allowed entry of the fish into the paddy fields but not their escape .