AEI Aquaculture Environment Interactions Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AEI 9:321-329 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00237 Beneficial effects of fish stocking on performance and pest control in the lotus field system Li Ma1, Jie Zhu1, Qi Chen1, Wei Li2,*, Guo-Hua Huang1,* 1Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Biology and Control of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, Hunan, PR China 2State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, PR China *Corresponding authors: liwei@ihb.ac.cn; ghhuang@hunau.edu.cn ABSTRACT: The present study was conducted to evaluate the economic effects of fish stocking on plant and fish performance in lotus fields, as well as to determine its influence on controlling common pest species associated with lotus fields. Lotus yield, fish growth performance, economic returns and pest abundance at 5 fish stocking density treatments (0, 1500, 3000, 4500 and 6000 ind. ha-1) were determined in 15 separate lotus fields at a lotus farming facility in Wugang City, Hunan Province, China. The results showed a tendency for the lotus yield to increase with fish stocking density, but significant differences were not found among the treatments. Survival rates were not significantly different among the fish stocking treatments for the 3 species of carp tested. Absolute growth rate and specific growth rate showed similar trends, with their values significantly decreasing as stocking density increased for each carp species. The total yield for the 3 fish species did show significant differences, with the highest yield in the 6000 treatment and the lowest in the 1500 treatment. Total net income was highest in the 4500 treatment and lowest in the control (0) treatment. No significant differences were observed between the 4500 and 3000 treatments. The abundance levels of 3 types of pests were lower in the fish stocking treatments than in the control treatment, and were shown to decrease with increasing stocking density. Based on these observations, stocking densities of 3000 to 4200 total ind. ha-1 were considered optimal levels in lotus-fish culture systems. KEY WORDS: Growth efficiency · Lotus-fish culture · Nelumbo nucifera · Carps · Stocking density · Performance · Economic benefit · Pest control Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Ma L, Zhu J, Chen Q, Li W, Huang GH (2017) Beneficial effects of fish stocking on performance and pest control in the lotus field system. Aquacult Environ Interact 9:321-329. https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00237 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AEI Vol. 9. Online publication date: September 05, 2017 Print ISSN: 1869-215X; Online ISSN: 1869-7534 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.