Pomacea Canaliculata (Golden Kuhol) Abundance in Rice Duck Pig Farming System
Abstract
The major purpose of this study is to determine the abundance golden apple snail in rice duck pig farming system. Weekly mean abundance of golden apple snail on the rice field fluctuates during the first four weeks of the experiment, gradually decreased during the succeeding weeks until the final week of the experiment. The graphical representation of each weekly mean per treatment shows the obvious decreasing significance of the golden apple snail in the rice field. Stocking densities of ducks decreased every week starting from week 4 of the experiment. The cause is not clear, but the weather can be considered as one of its causal factors since the experiment was done during rainy season. However, even if the stocking densities of ducks decreased, the abundance of golden apple snail decreased during the final weeks. The presence of duck in the rice field is effective in minimizing the abundance of golden apple snail. Distributed ducks in the rice field fed on the golden apple snails that are present in the soil which resulted to the decrease and elimination of the snails. Through this event, the field doesn’tneed the application of any type of insecticides because the pests were reduced.
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Introduction
Inmost of the tropical countries including the Philippines, farming is one of the most common types of work. As a matter of fact, agriculture in general, plays big part in our country’seconomy. Agriculture involves 40% of Filipino workers, and it contributes an average of 20% to the gross domestic products. The Philippine archipelago consists of mostly sea, but the land area suitable for farming is quite impressive having 47% of the total land area. Farming is also popular especially in rural areas within the country and one of the major sources of income of a simple Filipino family.
There are different kinds of farming depending upon what type of resources the place is capable of cultivating. As technology grasps its big leap towards improving and innovating, the people must also cope-up with its pace. That is why farming methods also come up with innovative ideas. One example of innovative farming is rice duck farming.
Rice duck farming is an integrated type of farming technology. It is suitable for small scale farmers to produce organic rice in low-cost. It is very suitable for the Philippines because most of the farmers belong to the lower sector of the society. Ducks eat harmful insects and weeds averting the use of chemical pesticides and manual weeding in the rice field. They also acquire nutritious diet from eating insects and weeds in rice fields. The manure of the duck act as a natural fertilizer to the rice crop preventing the use of chemical fertilizers, the continuous movement of ducks in the rice field provides natural stimulation and aeration which increases the availability of nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium to the rice crop. Rice-duck technology causes the reduction of emission of methane gas from rice field contributing to reduce the global warming. Golden apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) is a common freshwater snail and a notorious agricultural pest in the Philippines and other countries in Asia. It was introduced from Florida and Latin American to Taiwan in the early 1980s to start an escargot industry (Mochida 1988, 1991; Naylor 1996). Concerted efforts have been undertaken to annihilate them but they still persist and even spread naturally and intensively. Since this snail is ecologically important, persistent and possesses attributes of a bio monitor, they are big enough to provide sufficient material (soft tissue) for analyses. They are easy to handle, collect, and culture; they are abundant, and sedentary; they can survive for along time without food, and live long; they can be found in almost any freshwater ecosystem in many countries. The need for an extensive study for ecological management is necessary because of these things. They damage direct wet-seeded rice and transplanted rice up to 30 days old. Once the rice plant reaches 30−40 days, it will become thick enough to resist the snail. If no control measure is taken, they can completely destroy 1 m2 of field overnight. This damage could lead to more than 50% yield loss.
Generally speaking, the use of duck in farming is widely acceptable method to use in rice farming. The use of ducks as an approach in eliminating pests such as a golden apple snail could benefit the rice field itself and it could also be beneficial in nature in many ways.
