This study describes antibiotic use by small-scale freshwater aquaculture farmers in the upper Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam and the knowledge and practices surrounding the cause and prevention of aquaculture disease in that region. Forty five farmers were included in the study, of which 19 (42%) cultivated tilapia Oreochromis spp., 13 (29%) Striped Catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus and 13 (29%) giant river prawns Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Antibiotics were used by farmers of tilapia and Striped Catfish (84% and 69% of farmers, respectively), but not by any of the prawn farmers. Most farmers (72%) used antibiotics for around 3 d when treating diseases, depending on the farmers' economic means and whether the fish recovered, as judged by the farmer. If farmers perceived that the
The availability of water is a growing concern for flooded rice production. As such, several watersaving irrigation practices have been developed to reduce water requirements. Alternate wetting and drying and mid-season drainage have been shown to potentially reduce water requirements while maintaining rice yields when compared to continuous flooding. With the removal of permanently anaerobic conditions during the growing season, water-saving irrigation can also reduce CO 2 equivalent (CO 2eq ) emissions, helping reduce the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the long-term impact of water-saving irrigation on soil organic carbon (SOC)-used here as an indicator of soil health and fertility-has not been explored. We therefore conducted a metaanalysis to assess the effects of common water-saving irrigation practices (alternate wetting and drying and mid-season drainage) on (i) SOC, and (ii) GHG emissions. Despite an extensive literature search, only 12 studies were found containing data to constrain the soil C balance in both continuous flooding and water-saving irrigation plots, highlighting the still limited understanding of long-term impacts of water-saving irrigation on soil health and GHG emissions. Water-saving irrigation was found to reduce emissions of CH 4 by 52.3% and increased those of CO 2 by 44.8%. CO 2eq emissions were thereby reduced by 18.6% but the soil-to-atmosphere carbon (C) flux increased by 25% when compared to continuous flooding. Water-saving irrigation was also found to have a negative effect on both SOC-reducing concentrations by 5.2%-and soil organic nitrogen-potentially depleting stocks by more than 100 kg N/ha per year. While negative effects of water-saving irrigation on rice yield may not be visible in short-term experiments, care should be taken when assessing the long-term sustainability of these irrigation practices because they can decrease soil fertility. Strategies need to be developed for assessing the more long-term effects of these irrigation practices by considering tradeoffs between water savings and other ecosystem services.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.