Vegetable-Duck-Fish Culture (Tinola Garden)

Tinola garden, as the name implies, is a type of garden where major ingredients in the preparation of tinola (a kind of poultry or fish soup with vegetables) are found in a 200 sq.m area.

Vegetable-duck-fish culture

BASIC COMPONENTS:

a. Duck raising for meat and/or eggs
b. Mini-fishpond
c. Vegetable growing

This vegetable-duck-fish culture is actually a modification of the original mini-fishpond operation. This technology, however, optimizes land use by planting vegetables on the dikes, fence and the construction of trellis over the mini-pond. Depending on the preferences of the farmer, dikes could be planted with different vegetables and crops (e.g., leaf, fruit, root or legumes) and areas along the fence and trellis with any climbing vegetables.

ADVANTAGES:

Some of the advantages of this tinola garden are the following:

• increase in quantity and variety of food for home consumption
• ensures fresh supply of poultry meat and eggs, fish and vegetables
• practical for those farmers whose land area is less than 1.0 hectare and adopting the rice fish culture.

NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS:

A. Vegetables

• On the trellis and fence -- squash, patola and other climbing vegetables.
• After the construction of pond dikes, the trellis could be constructed and planting of varieties of crops could immediately follow.

B. Mini-fishpond

• The dikes should be at least 1 m high, 1/2 m wide on the top and 1 m wide at the base.
•  Water inside the pond must not be more than 1/2 m (to minimize fish losses).
• Recommended fish for stocking is Tilapia (Tilapia nilotica) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at the rate of 3 fingerlings/sq.m.
• Low-cost feeds may include rice bran, crushed snails and kitchen refuse.

Note: Refer to technology paper on Rice-Fish Culture for feeding and other management techniques.

C. Duck-Raising

Shed house (4 m x 1 m) made of low-cost and locally available materials (e.g., bamboo, ipil-ipil, madre de cacao, cogon, nipa, etc.) located in a 25 sq.m area in one section of the pond.

• Feeding troughs and waterers using old jeep or truck tires, clay pots or old cooking utensils.
• Stock: 8-12 heads (any species, depending on the farmer).
• Feeds may consist of rice bran, crushed banana trunk, crushed snails, kitchen refuse, kangkong, etc. Feeding is done twice a day.

Note: For more detailed information on duck raising, please see the technology paper on Backyard Duck Raising for Meat and Eggs.

Care and management of mini-ponds

The secret of success in growing fish in mini-ponds is proper care of the fish and management of the pond. Good pond management and care of the fish means faster growth and more fish for the family. The major points to remember are the following:

1. POND CONSTRUCTION

Care and management of mini-ponds

• Establish the mini-pond near a water source such as streams, springs, irrigation canals or manually operated pumps (pitcher pump), etc., which is free from flooding and with good drainage.
• The soil at the bottom and side of the minipond must be well packed to minimize seepage. If the soil is sandy or porous, line it with a mixture of carabao or cow dung, clay soil and cement.
• Plant grasses on the banks to prevent soil erosion. Grasses that grow fast and spread rapidly are ideal for this purpose.
• Put screens on the inlet and overflow pipes to prevent the entrance of predators and at the same- time to keep the fish from escaping.

2. WATER—QUALITY, DEPTH AND TEMPERATURE

• Water is of vital importance in raising fish. Always make sure that it is free from toxic substances, of the right temperature and the proper volume (depth). However, the warmwater fish do not require a constant supply of a large volume of fresh water. Most freshwater fish can be raised with water temperature ranging from 20°C - 40°C.
• The ideal water temperature ranges from 25°C - 30°C. In order to maintain the right temperature, plant leguminous trees like ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), katuray (Sesbania grandiflora), madre de cacao (Gliricidia septum) and Dapdap (Erythina) on two sides of the mini-pond, about 1.5 m - 2 m from the bank. Orient the planting of trees on the east-west direction to allow enough sunlight into the pond. The leaf litter also serves to improve aquatic life.
• Occasionally, the water in the pond becomes turbid and muddy. To check the turbidity of water apply lime at the rate of 1 tbsp/sq.m. Dissolve the lime water and sprinkle it over the pond.
• Maintain water depth at 1 m so that the sun's rays can penetrate the water and induce the growth of plankton (natural fish food). Production of plankton decreases as water depth increases. In shallow water (.5 m), the water temperature easily gets high during summer. High temperature retards fish growth.
• Avoid letting the water out from the pond to prevent the fertilizers and plankton from flowing out.
• Drain the pond once a year. Keep it dry for a period of 2-3 weeks to aerate the soil.

3. POND FERTILIZATION

Fertilize the pond

Any kind of animal manure can be used

• The production of algae and microorganisms in the mini-pond is the most important task for the low-cost production of fish. Fertilize the pond at least twice a month for the water to remain greenish. Green color indicates that the water has plenty of small plants and microorganisms which serve as nutritious food for the fish.
• Any kind of animal manure can be used. However, chicken manure makes a better fertilizer. Apply .5-1 kg chicken manure/m. The manure can be placed directly in one corner of the pond or put in a burlap sack and submerged 20 cm below the water surface. Never broadcast the manure on the surface as this, in turn, will reduce sunlight entry into the water, resulting in poor plankton growth.
• Dried leaves of leguminous trees can also be used to fertilize the pond. Put the leaves in porous bags and submerge in water 20 cm below the surface. One to two sacks of dried leaves can help fertilize the mini-pond. Dried rice straw can also be dumped directly in one corner of the pond. Occasional broadcasting of green leaves of leguminous trees (smallleaf varieties such as Calliandra, Leucaena, etc.) is also very helpful and promotes aquatic life.
• If a combination of organic and inorganic fertilizer is desired, 500 9 of organic fertilizer and 10 9 of inorganic fertilizer (preferably urea or 16-20-0)/m water can be applied to produce good results.
• On soils or water that are acidic, lime must be added. It can be broadcast on the bottom of the pond or put in a porous bag. Tie the bag to prevent it from submerging into the bottom of the pond. If lime is not available, it can be substituted by aged wood ash (not fresh ash or ash from paper).

4. FINGERLINGS

Stock only high-quality fingerlings. Secure your fingerlings from reliable hatcheries.

5. FEEDS AND FEEDING

• For faster growth, fish should be given supplemental feeds. A diet consisting of 20-30% ground ipil-ipil leaves or Azolla and 70-80% fine rice bran is recommended.
• When affordable, supplemental feeding of 100% fine rice bran is still the most economical (when natural food plankton in the mini-pond is abundant).
• Feed the fish twice a day, morning and afternoon.
• For a more efficient feeding, mash the feeds and place in a feeding tray made of fish net.
• The fish can also be fed with green leaves of kangkong, sweet potato, Azolla, kitchen leftovers, boiled sweet potato, cassava, gabi, crushed golden snails and white ants (termites).
• Surplus tilapia fingerlings (fresh) can be crushed and mixed with fine rice bran. This diet is very nutritious.
• Other cheap methods of feeding fish are:

1 Hanging a lighted lamp over the center of the pond. At night, insects are attracted to the light and hover around it. The insects will fall into the pond where the fish can eat them.

2. Feeding the fish with maggots (small worms). To produce maggots, hang pieces of meat or dead animals on a pole 2-3 ft above the water surface. Flies and other insects will lay their eggs on the meat or dead animals. After 2-3 days, maggots will come out and fall into the water.

6. CONTROL OF OVERPOPULATION

Overpopulation of fish is one of the problems in raising fish (tilapia) in mini-ponds. To obtain good yields of harvestable or marketable size of fish, population control is necessary. Any of the following methods may be used:

• Scooping the fry with a fine net early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The fries swim at the edges of the pond at this time of the day.
• Introducing predators into the pond such as mudfish (dalag) and catfish (hito) at 2% of the total stocking rate. To prevent predators from preying on the original stock, the size of the predators must be smaller than the original stock and should weigh less than one gram.

7. HARVESTING

• After 4-5 months, the bigger fish can already be harvested. Catch them with a hook and line using earthworms or golden snails as bait or use a sweep net.
• Harvest only enough fish for the family to consume.
• To ensure a continuous supply of fish for the family, replace the number of fish harvested immediately by collecting fingerlings from the breeding/hatchery pond.