Abstract: To clarify the effects of wide-ridge rice-fish-chicken co-culture on the growth and yield of rice, we carried out a field experiment for two consecutive years (2020-2021) with four treatments, including wide-ridge rice-chicken co-culture (RC), wide-ridge rice-fish co-culture (RF), wide-ridge rice-fish-chicken co-culture (RFC) and conventional rice cultivation (CK). The results showed that compared with CK, leaf area index of RC and RFC treatments increased by 46.99% and 46.32% (P<0.05) at grain filling stage, and panicle dry weight increased by 40.85% and 33.39% at maturity stage, respectively. The dry matter accumulation of rice aboveground at the booting to full heading stage under the treatments of RC and RFC increased by 29.83% and 33.71% (P<0.05), respectively. Population growth rates of RFC and RC treatments increased by 80.94% and 75.34% (P<0.05), and photosynthetic potential at the full heading to grain filling stage increased by 34.25% and 39.74% (P<0.05), respectively. The photosynthetic rate of RC and RFC treatments from booting stage to full heading stage increased by 3.05%-14.87% and 6.45%-19.38%, respectively. The rice yield under the treatments of RC, RFC and RF increased by 10.89%, 13.23%, and 11.56% respectively, while the effective panicle number of RC treatment increased by 13.25% (P<0.05). In summary, RC and RFC treatments could improve leaf area index, photosynthetic rate and population growth rate of rice, and increase panicle dry weight of rice, so as to achieve stable yield and yield enhancement.

Key words: wide-ridge cultivation, rice-fish-chicken symbiosis, population growth, rice yield.