Irrigated lowland rice is the most important rice ecosystem in Malaysia. The present and future food security in rice for the country depends largely on the irrigated lowland rice production system which consumes a large amount of water. Signs of declining water availability due to increased demand of water for domestic and industrial uses besides irregularity of rainfall and climate change threatens the sustainability of irrigated rice production. This scenario may change the way rice is produced in the future. Aerobic rice is a potential water saving rice production system and will be the best option of producing rice in water scarce environment. The availability of aerobic rice varieties that can withstand aerobic condition, responds to irrigation and fertilizers, competitive against weeds and deliver a high yield is crucial to make aerobic rice cultivation successful. Since weeds are major constraints to aerobic rice, it must be effectively controlled through integrated weed management. Appropriate nutrient and other crop management practices will ensure successful aerobic rice production system.
Pomacea spp. or apple snails are one of the main rice pests in Malaysia. It is unfortunate that farmers prefer to use chemical molluscicides especially the illegal mollusicicides from other countries to control this pest. The use of chemicals brings negative effect to farmer's health and environment. One of the suggested measures to avoid the excessive use of chemical molluscicides is by physical control through handpicking. However, manual handpicking is backbreaking and not very effective. The use of attractant baits can ease the hard work of manual handpicking or enabling spot spraying of molluscicides which minimizes the overuse of application. The effectiveness of several materials as apple snail attractant baits was studied on screen house scale and field scale. Jackfruit and papayas are highly recommended to be used as attractant baits as well as cassava leaves and water spinach. Most of the snails were found attached to the materials either to feed or for shelter. All these type of attractant baits can be used to gather and collect apple snails in rice fields especially before the broadcasting stage of the rice seeds. The use of attractant baits also is seen as an important component of integrated management of the apple snail.
Avian species composition profile and feeding guilds under the aerobic rice field. In Malaysia, the aerobic rice productionsystem is an alternative approach to growing rice in a water-scarce environment. Like irrigated rice, aerobic rice also cansustain a diversity of avian fauna. The current status of birds in the rice fields of Malaysia especially under aerobic ricecondition has not been widely researched. Therefore, this study aims to document the richness, diversity and feeding guildsof bird species in aerobic rice cultivation area. Birds were sampled and recorded using four randomly set up mist net at anupscaling aerobic rice plot in Serdang, Selangor during a period of the one month starting from the milky stage of the plant (75days after emergence) until two weeks after harvest. 139 birds representing 11 species belonging to 7 families were recordedin the aerobic rice plot. The most abundant bird family observed was Estrildidae (80.58%), followed by Hirundinidae (6.47%),and Meropidae and Motacillidae (both recorded 5.04%). Scaly-breasted munia (50.36%) and white-headed munia (28.06%) arethe most abundant birds, while other types of munia such as chestnut munia and white-rumped munia are present in smallnumbers. Munias were the most observed bird species number (36.36%) and therefore can be considered as the main avianpest of aerobic rice. The diversity indices, The Shannon-Wiener Index was 1.43 while The Reciprocal Simpson Index was 2.93.The richness index (The Margalef Index) was 2.03. The Equitability Index was 0.59. In term of feeding guild, most speciesbelong to insectivore (45.45%) and granivore (36.36%) while the rest were piscivore/insectivore and granivore/insectivore.However, the granivore recorded the highest number of individuals (112 or 80.58%) compared to other guilds. Presence of arelatively high diversity of bird species with varieties of feeding guilds indicated that aerobic rice does provide an attractivehabitat or foraging site for avian fauna.
In Malaysia, the aerobic rice production system is an alternative approach to growing rice in a water-scarce environment. Like irrigated rice, aerobic rice also can sustain a diversity of avian fauna. The current status of birds in the rice fields of Malaysia especially under aerobic rice condition has not been widely researched. Therefore, this study aims to document the richness, diversity and feeding guilds of bird species in aerobic rice cultivation area. Birds were sampled and recorded using four randomly set up mist net at an upscaling aerobic rice plot in Serdang, Selangor during a period of the one month starting from the milky stage of the plant (75 days after emergence) until two weeks after harvest. 139 birds representing 11 species belonging to 7 families were recorded in the aerobic rice plot. The most abundant bird family observed was Estrildidae (80.58%), followed by Hirundinidae (6.47%), and Meropidae and Motacillidae (both recorded 5.04%). Scaly-breasted munia (50.36%) and white-headed munia (28.06%) are the most abundant birds, while other types of munia such as chestnut munia and white-rumped munia are present in small numbers. Munias were the most observed bird species number (36.36%) and therefore can be considered as the main avian pest of aerobic rice. The diversity indices, The Shannon-Wiener Index was 1.43 while The Reciprocal Simpson Index was 2.93. The richness index (The Margalef Index) was 2.03. The Equitability Index was 0.59. In term of feeding guild, most species belong to insectivore (45.45%) and granivore (36.36%) while the rest were piscivore/insectivore and granivore/insectivore. However, the granivore recorded the highest number of individuals (112 or 80.58%) compared to other guilds. Presence of a relatively high diversity of bird species with varieties of feeding guilds indicated that aerobic rice does provide an attractive habitat or foraging site for avian fauna.
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