Rice Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 267-281 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/rgg 268 The service function of the rice field ecosystem refers to the regulation, support and cultural service functions provided by the rice field ecosystem to the environment and human well-being in addition to providing food output, including biodiversity maintenance, pest and disease control, soil fertility improvement, water purification and landscape cultural value. With the emphasis on sustainable agricultural development and environmental protection, how to improve the ecological service function of farmland while ensuring food production has become a research hotspot (Lin, 2025). Traditional high-input chemical agriculture often brings ecological and environmental problems while increasing production, such as pesticide and fertilizer pollution, eutrophication of water bodies, and biodiversity decline. Ecological farming models such as rice-duck symbiosis are considered to be an effective way to practice green agricultural development. They reduce dependence on chemical inputs by simulating natural ecological processes and are believed to promote the improvement of farmland ecological service functions (Chen et al., 2023). Recent studies have shown that integrated farming models can help achieve the dual goals of increasing agricultural production and efficiency and being environmentally friendly. For example, a comprehensive analysis of global rice farming models showed that such "rice-poultry/fish" farming systems can improve the nutrient utilization efficiency of rice fields and increase food output, which is conducive to achieving multiple goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as zero hunger, clean water sources, and climate action. In my country, driven by policies related to ecological agriculture and circular agriculture, research and demonstration of integrated rice farming technology has developed rapidly. As a typical model, rice-duck symbiosis has become a frontier topic in cross-disciplinary research in the fields of agriculture and ecological environment. This study is carried out in this context, focusing on how the rice-duck symbiosis system can enhance the ecological service function of rice fields and its mechanism. This study will explore the effect of the rice-duck symbiosis system on the ecological service function of rice fields, clarify its mechanism of action and practical benefits, analyze the basic composition and operation mode of the rice-duck symbiosis system, including the mutualistic mechanism between ducks and rice, the field management method of rice-duck co-cultivation, and the application status of this model in different regions, discuss the mechanism of rice-duck system on the ecological service function of rice fields, analyze the action principle from the aspects of biological control (pest and weed control), soil structure and nutrient cycle optimization, rice quality and indirect improvement of nutrition, evaluate the ecological benefits of reducing external inputs and environmental pollution, such as reducing the frequency of fertilizer and pesticide application, reducing the damage of pesticide residues to the water and soil environment, and achieving sustainable production through ecological weed control and organic fertilizer substitution, and select practical cases for analysis. This study also summarizes the significance of rice-duck co-cultivation for the transformation of ecological agriculture, proposes a feasible path to enhance the ecological service function of rice fields, and hopes to provide direction for the large-scale and intelligent development of rice-duck co-cultivation in the future. 2 Basic Composition and Operational Model of Rice-Duck Systems 2.1 Mutual benefits between ducks and rice In the rice-duck symbiosis system, rice and domestic ducks benefit each other in the same ecological environment, forming a complex ecological chain. First, rice provides a habitat and foraging place for ducks. The shade of rice plants can reduce the field temperature and provide a comfortable activity environment for ducks. At the same time, organisms (such as insects, snails and aquatic weed larvae) that reproduce in rice plants and rice field water bodies become natural feed for ducks. In turn, the activities and feeding behaviors of ducks in rice fields play multiple positive roles in rice growth. First, ducks feed on pests and weeds in rice fields, reducing the threat of diseases, insects and weeds to rice, which is equivalent to acting as "biological insecticides" and "biological weed killers". According to research, the coverage and density of weeds in rice-duck symbiosis fields have been significantly reduced, and the incidence of major pests such as rice planthoppers and borers has also been significantly reduced. Second, ducks trample and play in the fields, which has a similar effect to loosening the soil by tilling, disturbing the soil surface to increase oxygen supply, improve soil ventilation and dissolved oxygen levels in the water.
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