*2.1.1. Rice field selection*

The topography and contours of the land will make the difference in preparation of rice field. There are three types of rice fields identified such as:


Besides these three types, there are many types of trenches prepared for integrated riceaquaculture. Different other types of trenches in the rice field are presented in **Figure 4**. The ideal ratio for making an integrated RAF is explained well, for example if a 1 hectare of land of integrated system is about 125 m × 125 m. In this, 0.67 hectares is the area to be used for rice, i.e. 102.5 m × 102.5 m, whereas 7.5 m × 440 m for four sides of the field which is equal to 0.21 hectares were used for aquaculture (fish, crustacean and other aquatic animal culture). About 0.12 hectares of area, i.e. 3.75 m × 485 m, will be used as embankment area. The other area of about 0.04 hectares is used for planting fruits.

namely, (1) synchronous/combined/simultaneous farming, (2) sequential/rice-aquaculture

Integrated Rice and Aquaculture Farming http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78062 15

In this type, the rice and aquatic culture species are grown simultaneously in the same field. Both the rice and cultured species are harvested at the same time. The synchronous rice-aquatic farming method has its own importance since it produces aquaculture protein with no additional cost; the cultured aquatic species secretes ammonia for rice growth besides destroying the weeds, tillering, enrichment of minerals (digging activity) and utilization of unused aquatic feed by the crop plant. Due to this the rice yield increases 5–15% than the conventional methods [19].

rotation/alternate farming and (3) relay farming.

**Figure 2.** Rice field with central pond system for rice-aquaculture farming.

**Figure 1.** Perimeter-type rice field used for rice-aquaculture integrated farming.

*2.2.1. Synchronous/combined/simultaneous farming*
