In collaboration with scientists from 18 countries, a research team from Shanghai-based East China University of Science and Technology has confirmed the benefits of the ancient rice-fish co-culture farming method, offering a scientific pathway for ecological agriculture and food security.?

Their study validated that the traditional practice not only boosts rice yields, but also controls pests and diseases through ecological regulation. Rice yields in rice-fish co-culture systems increased by an average of 12.5 percent compared with traditional rice monoculture, according to their global data analysis.

Notably, the presence of fish nearly doubled the number of invertebrate predators and parasitoids in the fields, while pests decreased by 24.1 percent, diseases by 38.8 percent and weeds by 45.7 percent.

"Such research results provide a scalable solution with high ecological and production benefits to address global challenges such as food security, pesticide reduction, agricultural non-point source pollution and biodiversity loss," said Wan Nianfeng, a lead scientist on the research team and a professor from the university's School of Pharmacy.?

A paper about the research completed by the Chinese researchers in collaboration with fellows from countries including France, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States was published as a cover article in Current Biology, a Cell journal, on Monday.?

The research team explained that they discovered how this co-culture mechanism enhances production through pathway analysis. In the two-trophic-level relationship between rice and pests, the method directly suppresses harmful organisms to boost yields. In the three-trophic-level relationship among rice, pests and natural enemies, it increases the number of natural enemies to suppress pests, thus achieving indirect yield enhancement.

To further verify this global effect, the team conducted a four-year field experiment. The results confirmed that compared with rice monoculture areas, the rice-fish co-culture ones had significantly reduced numbers of pests of major types, while the number of predatory spiders increased.