Bioscience Evidence 2026, Vol.16, No.4, 249-263 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 254 3.2 Case study 2: rice-duck farming system The rice-duck farming system controls pests and weeds by allowing ducks to forage, walk, and move freely in rice fields. Their feeding behavior directly removes insects and weeds while improving the field environment, reducing the need for pesticides and herbicides. A field experiment conducted under organic management in suburban Shanghai showed that duck release significantly reduced weed density and lowered the occurrence of striped stem borers, rice leaffolders, and planthoppers. The reductions in rice leaffolder damage, sheath blight, and planthopper populations were especially significant. Duck farming also increased soil ammonium nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and the activity of several soil enzymes. Rice yield reached 1.9 times that of the control treatment, while pesticide and herbicide inputs were greatly reduced (Teng et al., 2016). Duck activities, including feeding, trampling, movement, and the addition of manure, reduced insects, diseases, and weeds, improved field conditions, and increased biodiversity. Control efficiency reached 98.47% for planthoppers and 100% for leafhoppers, while stem borers and rice leaffolders were also effectively suppressed (Long et al., 2013). For high-quality rice production, the benefits of the rice-duck system extend beyond reducing pesticide use. Compared with conventional rice farming, ecological rice-duck systems reduce production costs, increase profits, improve grain quality, and strengthen the resilience of the farming system. They also reduce lodging during typhoon seasons and decrease rice leaffolder damage (Zhuo et al., 2025) (Figure 3). After several years of operation, ecological rice produced under this system can obtain China's Green Food certification, build a market brand, and achieve premium prices. Ducks also provide an additional source of farm income. However, the pest control effect is not always consistent under all conditions. A study from northern Zhejiang reported that rice-duck fields had higher populations of planthoppers and leafhoppers than conventional and untreated fields, while spider and dragonfly populations were lower. This finding suggests that unsuitable duck density, release timing, or poor habitat management may reduce natural enemy populations and weaken biological control. Even so, the organically certified rice-duck system still achieved net profits that were 7.6 times higher than those of conventional farming and 1.4 times higher than the untreated control (Qian et al., 2022). Figure 3 Ecological rice-duck integration farming system conceptualization. Notes: This figure is about the study case and drawn by the authors. At XQ farm, Shen selected “Zhe’he’xiang 2” late rice and shelducks to operate the rice-duck integration farming system. Blue thick arrows, material flow in rice-duck farming system; yellow arrows, the decrease of rice production costs, income volatility, overuse of synthetic fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide; red arrows, the increase of rice yield, rice/duck quality and profitability, soil nutrition and water quality (Adopted from Zhuo et al., 2025)
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