Replication Data for: PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF INTEGRATED RICE FISH FARMING USING KEBBI AND EBONYI STATE AND THEIR ADJOINING INSTITUTIONAL BASED PLATFORMS AS CASE STUDIES

Options for farm diversification through integrated aquaculture-agriculture (IAA) are being gradually embraced as a competitive alternative to traditional agriculture because of resource use efficiency and overall productivity. Despite the numerous benefits, the practice of IAA especially integrated rice-fish (IRF) farming in African countries such as Nigeria is limited, therefore, there is a need for proper documentation and demonstration to further encourage IRF adoption. This study was carried out on the MSU/USAID/FAO IRF plot (22m by 15m) for 16 weeks in two states which are Ebonyi and Kebbi and their adjoining institutional-based platforms which are the University of Ibadan (UI) and Usmanu Dan Fodiyo university (UDU) to evaluate the production efficiency and to access the water productivity of combining rice-fish. After transplanting rice seedlings and stocking fish seeds, data were collected on the growth and yield performance of fish such as average body weight(g) and length(cm), survival rate (%) and on rice such as number and length of tiller(cm) number and length of panicles(cm), paddy, grain yield(ton/ha). Water and soil quality parameters such as pH, alkalinity, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, organic carbon and nitrogen were collected biweekly and monthly. Water use efficiency(kg/ha/cm) was also calculated. Statistical analysis was carried out through analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Ducan multiple range test to find the difference at 5% (p < 0.05) levels. Water quality parameters result showed that alkalinity(mg/l) ranged from 17.8±9.6(Kebbi) to 106.8±4.5(UI), pH ranged from 6.0±1.2(UI) to 8.5±2.1(UDU), nitrate(mg/l) ranged from 0.0±0.0(UI) to 0.3±0.1(Kebbi), nitrite(mg/l) ranged from 0.0±0.0(UI) to 0.5±0.1(Kebbi), ammonia(mg/l) ranged from 0.0±0.1(UI) to 0.5±0.2(UI), hardness(mg/l) ranged from 34.4±18.5(UDU) to 178.6±10.0(UI) and dissolved oxygen(mg/l) ranged from 4.8±0.5(UI) to 13.8±2.8(UDU). For the soil quality parameters result, pH ranged from 5.8±1.1(UI) to 8.0±0.0(UI), nitrogen(g/kg) ranged from 0.6±0.1(UI) to 2.3±0.2(Ebonyi), phosphorus(mg/kg) ranged from 1.2±0.0(Ebonyi) to 13.0±0.0(UI), dissolved oxygen(mg/l) ranged from 4.2±0.4(UI) to 5.6±0.9(UI), organic carbon(g/kg) ranged from 5.0±0.1(UI) to 24.3±6.6(Ebonyi) and potassium(cmol/kg) ranged from 0.1±0.0(Ebonyi) to 1.0±0.3(Kebbi). The number (cell/litre) and abundance(cell/litre) of plankton ranged from 13.0±1.1(Ebonyi) to 230±5.9(UI) and 12.0±1.2(UDUS) to 239±75(UI) respectively. The most dominant species of plankton recorded were rotifera spp, euglena spp, Ulothrix spp and spiruna spp. The highest (73.3) and least (21.5) survival rates (%) were recorded in UI and Ebonyi respectively. The highest (8.3) and the least (1.6) fish yield (ton/ha) were recorded in UI and Kebbi respectively. The highest (5.1) and the least (1.9) rice yield(ton/ha) were recorded in UI and Ebonyi respectively. Consumptive water used(m3) ranged from 197.4±20.5(UI) to 1000.7±60.5(Kebbi), water use efficiency(kg/ha/cm) ranged from 0.5±0.0(Ebonyi) to 1.5±2.2(UI) and water productivity(kg/m3) ranged from 425±40.2(UDU) to 1680±78(Kebbi). There were no significant differences between the mean of water quality parameters in the adaptative plots except for the dissolved oxygen in UDU and Kebbi which were significantly different from UI and Ebonyi. The result revealed that integrated rice fish farming could increase the yield of rice and fish compare to monoculture system of either rice and fish. Therefore, more research should be done and documented on integrated rice fish farming system to ascertain importance of this system for a wider adoption.