Abstract—The research was conducted at Shahpur, Dumuria, Khulna to assess the effects of stocking densities on growth and yield of prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in rice fields with mola (Amblypharyngodon mola) from 2 August to 30 November, 2014 in 12 experimental rice plots. Each of four treatments with three replicates was tested in this experiment. In all treatments M. rosenbergii was stocked with A. mola. The stocking densities of M. rosenbergii were 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000 individuals/ha in treatments T 1 , T 2 , T 3 and T 4 , respectively. The stocking density of A. mola was the same (20,000/ha) in all the treatments. In regards of the cultural suitability, the production of prawn and mola showed a higher growth with subsistence in T 2 , in which the stocking density of prawn was 15,000/ha and the mola was 20,000/ha. The highest production of prawn was recorded as 386.20±4.96 kg/ha, whereas the mola was 70.68±1.23 kg/ha in treatment T 2 than those of other treatments. The survival was the highest in T 2 (49.65%) followed by T 1 (44.25%) and T 4 (43.55%) and the lowest in T 3 (39.58%). Overall, the highest production and survival were obtained in T 2 and hence, it found to be more productive than the other treatments. The study therefore, established the fact that polyculture of freshwater prawn and mola is a better composition for rice-fish integration in Bangladesh. Index Terms— Freshwater, Prawn, Mola, Stocking density, Rice fields, Production. I. INTRODUCTION Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world, having more than 985 inhabitants per km 2 . According to United Nations projections the population will grow further to 1687 inhabitants per km 2 by the year 2050. Providing sufficient food for the counties vast population will put increasing pressure on Bangladesh’s scarce natural resources. Especially water and land need to be utilized more efficiently due to the development of the population and the rise of other sectors of the economy competing with agriculture for resources. In fact cropland has already declined in Bangladesh by 3.1 percent from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s [1]. Efficient utilization of resources in agricultural production is therefore, of utmost importance to ensure food security in Bangladesh. Rice-fish culture has long been recognized as an option to improve the productivity of the country’s rice-based agriculture. Dewan [2] estimated that Bangladesh had approximately 2.83 million hectares of rice fields, which would be suitable for integrated rice-fish production. However, he noted that much research remains to be done to optimize the management of such Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia systems in order to make them more profitable for the farmers. A survey was conducted on 256 farms in Bangladesh to assess the feasibility and economic viability of rice-fish culture [3]. They found an average fish production of 233 kg/ha in the dry season and 212 kg/ha in the rainy season, and an average increase in the net benefit by 64.4% and 98.2% compared to rice monoculture, respectively. A number of field experiments were carried out in Bangladesh under defined conditions. The suitability of the small indigenous species, for example, Amblypharyngodon mola was tested for production in rice yields [4]) and obtained a maximum fish yield of 262 kg/ha. In another study, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were cultured and obtained a fish production of up to 271 kg/ha and a rice yield of 1.5–3.7 t/ha [5]. In all studies known from Bangladesh so far, the fish yields were moderate as compared to the generally accepted production potential of 200 to 700 kg/ha [6]. Rice-fish culture may become more attractive for farmers if fish production can be increased through efficient management strategies. Therefore the objective of the current experiments was to test the performance of prawn and mola and to maximize the production of rice and prawn in the same land through proper integrated culture management. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Experimental protocol The experiment was carried out from July to November 2006 in a village of Shahpur at Dumuria under Khulna district. Twelve rectangular plots having an average area of 152 m 2 each were used for this experiment. The only sources of water were rain for the experimental plots. The embankments (1.0 m height and 0.5 m width) were constructed surrounding the experimental plots and were made free from flood, safe and escaping of fish or prawn. Fencing by plastic nets (0.5 m height) was provided around the experimental areas to prevent the stocked prawn from escaping. The experiment was designed into completely randomized design (CRD) with four treatments having three replicates for each. The stocking density of M. rosenbergii were 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000/ha in T 1 , T 2 , T 3 and T 4 , respectively. However, stocking density of A. mola was the same (20,000/ha) in all the treatments. A small ditch was constructed in the middle point of each plot, covering an area of 2.0 m 2 with 0.5-0.6 m depth in order to make a shelter for mola and prawn during low water column and also rising the temperature. To increase the pond productivity, some fertilizers (i.e. urea, triple super phosphate-TSP and murate of Production of mola fish (Amblypharyngodon Mola) at different stocking densities of freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium Rosenbergii) in rice fields M. Aminur Rahman * and Md. Shamim Parvez International Conference on Advances in Science, Engineering, Technology and Natural Resources (ICASETNR-16) Nov. 24-25, 2016 Parys (South Africa) http://doi.org/10.15242/IAE.IAE1116479 295