32 JUNE 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Aquaculture Integrated Systems Brazilian aquaculture is mainly based on intensive monoculture systems such as the culture of tilapia in cages or earthen ponds and marine shrimps in coastal ponds. In these systems, a substantial part of the supplied feed is transformed into potentially polluting material or incorporated into organisms, such as phytoplankton or zooplankton, that have no direct commercial value. Following a global trend, our research team is searching for alternatives to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of aquaculture in Brazil. Integrated systems are a good option to minimize some of the environmental impacts of aquaculture and increase profits. Integrated systems optimize the use of natural resources, Growing Amazon River Prawns in Rice Fields in Brazil Marcello Villar Boock, Helcio L. A. Marques, Helenice P. Barros, Margarete Mallasen, Michélle Roberta dos Santos and Patricia Moraes-Valenti facilities and labor, increasing economical and environmental sustainability. They also allow the transformation of potential pollutants into biomass of high economic value. Examples of integrated systems include prawn-fish polyculture, duck-fish culture and rice-fish or rice-prawn farming. Among these systems, riceprawn culture stands out because of the high market value of prawns and the low cost of modifying rice fields. Rice-prawn culture is common in Asia but commercially non-existent in Brazil despite millions of hectares of rice farms. Brazilian rice farmers now face great financial difficulties because production costs are high and global commodity grain prices are low. Therefore, there is great interest in finding alternatives that add value to rice production to keep producers, especially smallholders, engaged in this activity. FIGURE 1. Overview of 30-m2 experimental plots. FIGURE 2. Post-larvae of Macrobrachium amazonicum. FIGURE 3. Nets and screens fitted on inlet sluice gates. FIGURE 4. Net fitted on outlet sluice gate.
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