author(s)
Allouko Jean-Renaud, Assemian N’guessan Emmanuel, Bony Kotchi Yves, Avit Jean-Baptiste Louis François, Kouassi N’Gouan Cyrille

abstract
Rice-fish farming is a system that contributes to food security, income generation and better nutrition for the farmer. To evaluate the performance of Oreochromis niloticus in rice-fish pond, the environmental parameters that may influence Oreochromis niloticus pre-growth and growth stage in association rice varieties "Wita 12 and Djoukèmin" and fish zootechnical performances were determined to improve this crop in Ivory Coast. O. niloticus (1,28 g and 37,1 g) were stocked into ponds with the density of 20 fish/m2 for pre-growth stage and 0.7 fish/m2 for growth stage. Six 400 m2 ponds were used to test fish farming, rice cropping and rice-fish culture in two replicates. The present study results showed that water quality was similar in different environments and suited to the ecological requirements of O. niloticus, except dissolved oxygen content below the optimal threshold. The densities of zooplankton, phytoplankton and benthic macroinvertebrates biomass are lower in rice-fish cropping. In rice-fish cropping, fish zootechnical performances were slightly better than those of the fish environment. Moreover, rice-fish culture shows the advantage to increase rice yield. Intensive rice-fish culture system has been successfully tested in pond and could achieve food security in rural areas.