The on-farm trials of the rotational prawn-rice farming in a semi-deep water area

The on-farm trials of rotational rice-prawn farming in a semi-deep water area in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam was carried out in six rice fields (0.7-1.0 ha) to evaluate the production and economic efficiency of using low and high cost feed on prawn culture in paddies at different densities. Two stocking densities of 4 and 5 PL/m² were investigated. Two treatments of feed types (pellets only or a combination of pellets, trash fish, and snail meat) were applied at stocking 4 PL/m². At the treatment of 5 PL/m², prawns were fed a combination of pellets, trash fish, and snail meat. Prawns were stocked in the mid-April and harvested in mid-November before the next dry season rice crop. Rice farming was started 3 to 5 days after prawn harvesting. By cull harvesting during the culture period, final mean weights of prawn ranged from 47.2 to 57.2 g/prawn and the male:female ratio at harvesting was 2.5:1.0. The prawn yield of treatment 5 PL/m² was highest (630 ± 22 kg/ha). Net profits in treatments using the combination of pellets, trash fish, and snail meat were 861 ± 193 US$/ha to 1,019 ± 25 US$/ha for the prawn crop and 1,393 ± 71 US$/ha to 1,576 ± 180 US$/ha for the whole system (prawn crop + dry rice crop) and significantly higher than in treatment using pellet only (P <0.05). Prawns fed on pellets or a combination of pellets and snail meat both offer similar results in terms of production and economics. The dry rice crop offered high cost benefit ratio (2.29-2.33) with low operating cost (414-434 USD/ha) and it made a better use in sustainable rice fields through the rotational rice-prawn system.