02-17-2016, 10:58 PM
The ICRISAT Initiative
Similar results were reported in an ICRISAT Initiative in India called Bhoochetana (‘Land Rejuvenation’):
“Many of these farmers told us that Bhoochetana has rejuvenated their thinking about agriculture, filling them with enthusiasm and hope for the future”.
Mahadevappa and Gauramma (pictured with Azolla), who farm two hectares of land, adopted a range of sustainable agricultural practices recommended by ICRISAT. These included the addition of Azolla that they harvested from ponds, which increased the yield and enriched the fat content of their cows’ milk. They also learned to make compost from worms (vermiculture or vermicomposting) and combine it with manure and fertilizer to further raise crop yields.
Bhoochetana is a success. Since it started in 2008, agricultural production has risen by almost 6 percent. In 2011, 3 million farm families experienced yield gains of 35-66 % and, despite poor rains, the project resulted in economic growth of $130 million through increased food production.
Azolla and Fish
Azolla is a potential food for freshwater fish farming for two reasons:
§ The primary limiting factor for productivity of tropical aquatic ecosystems is often the bioavailability of nitrogen, which can be supplied by Azolla-Anabaena.
§ Approximately 95% of the cost of formulating an average production diet is related to meeting protein and energy needs of the fish,
It has been used for centuries in China to increase rice production by the incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen into the water used to grow rice. Azolla-rice cultivation is now also being used in conjunction with fish farming, and result in increased rice production of 20% and fish production of 30% according toKamalasanana et al. (2002).
Fiogbe et al. (2004) have also investigated the use of Azolla as a supplementary food for fish, because:
“In many developing countries people lack sufficient animal protein. In Benin, the main protein source is fish; however, consumption thereof is very low (7 kg year) compared to the adult requirement of fish or animal meat per year (30 kg year).”
Fish culture could be a means to increase animal protein consumption not only in Benin but also in most of the developing countries that lack sufficient animal protein. However, in a project financed by the European Union from 1978 to 1990, fish production in Benin fell due mainly to the high cost of the feed.”
They investigated Azolla microphylla’s potential to produce low-cost feeds for the omnivorous–phytoplanktonophagous tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus with diets ranging from zero to 45% diet dry weight of Azolla.
Fiogbe et al. (2004) found that all diet levels with incorporated Azolla meal exhibited weight gain, indicating that Azolla can be used with local products to promote fish culture development. They. concluded that the least expensive diet, which comprised 45% Azolla, could be used as a complementary diet for tilapia raised in fertilized ponds and recommended Azolla’s use for fish culture in rural areas, and mainly wetlands.
Other trials have focused on Azolla’s use as a feed for the grass carpCtenopharyngodon idell. This species has a short, inefficient digestive system and, at suitable water temperatures, will consume daily more than their own weight of aquatic weeds. The fish showed a marked preference for Azolla, Lemna, and other small floating weeds (Edwards, 1975; Varghese et al., 1976).
Azolla feed for the shellfish Abalone
Abalone are a group of marine gastropod mollusks that have a worldwide distribution along the coastal waters of every continent, except the Atlantic coast of South America, the Caribbean, and the east coast of the United States. Most abalone species are found in cold waters off the Southern Hemisphere coasts of New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and western North America and Japan in the Northern Hemisphere.
Farming of abalone began in the late 1950s in Japan and China. Since the mid-1990s, there have been many increasingly successful endeavors to commercially farm abalone for food. Over-fishing and poaching have reduced wild populations to such an extent that farmed abalone now supplies most of the abalone eaten by people. The principal abalone farming regions are China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, and abalone is also farmed in Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.
Abalone are herbivores and feed in the wild on seaweeds such as Gracilaria andGraciliariopsis, and one of the main concerns in abalone farming is the high cost of feed. A study conducted by Ofelia Reyes and Armando Fermin at The Philippines’SEAFDEC/AQD was therefore undertaken to determine if their diet could be supplemented or replaced by terrestrial plants such as Carica papaya, Leucaena leucocephala, Moringa oleifera, locally known as papaya, ipil-ipil and malunggay, respectively, plus Azolla pinnata.
Formulated diets in the study consisting of [1] M. oliefera and A. pinnata, and [2] L. leucocephala were fed daily to juvenile abalones at 2-3% of their body weights, whilst a control feed consisting of fresh Graciliariopsis bailinae was given daily at 30% of the total body weight.
After 120 days, the results showed that:
§ Growth rates of abalone fed M. oliefera and A. pinnata were significantly higher than those fed L. leucocephala, and approximated the same as those fed freshG. bailinae.
§ Abalone fed on M. oleifera, A. pinnata and fresh G. bailinae showed greater weight gains compared with fed the L. leucocephala-based diet.
§ Abalone fed M. oleifera and A. pinnata had a significantly higher protein productive value (PPV) of 79.9, compared to a value of 12.3 for those fed G. bailinae.
The study concluded that M. oleifera and A. pinnata could be used as to supplement the diets for abalone because they are available year-round and contain essential nutrients to support the growth of H. asinina.
For more details see the SEAFDEC/AQD website.
Similar results were reported in an ICRISAT Initiative in India called Bhoochetana (‘Land Rejuvenation’):
“Many of these farmers told us that Bhoochetana has rejuvenated their thinking about agriculture, filling them with enthusiasm and hope for the future”.
Mahadevappa and Gauramma (pictured with Azolla), who farm two hectares of land, adopted a range of sustainable agricultural practices recommended by ICRISAT. These included the addition of Azolla that they harvested from ponds, which increased the yield and enriched the fat content of their cows’ milk. They also learned to make compost from worms (vermiculture or vermicomposting) and combine it with manure and fertilizer to further raise crop yields.
Bhoochetana is a success. Since it started in 2008, agricultural production has risen by almost 6 percent. In 2011, 3 million farm families experienced yield gains of 35-66 % and, despite poor rains, the project resulted in economic growth of $130 million through increased food production.
Azolla and Fish
Azolla is a potential food for freshwater fish farming for two reasons:
§ The primary limiting factor for productivity of tropical aquatic ecosystems is often the bioavailability of nitrogen, which can be supplied by Azolla-Anabaena.
§ Approximately 95% of the cost of formulating an average production diet is related to meeting protein and energy needs of the fish,
It has been used for centuries in China to increase rice production by the incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen into the water used to grow rice. Azolla-rice cultivation is now also being used in conjunction with fish farming, and result in increased rice production of 20% and fish production of 30% according toKamalasanana et al. (2002).
Fiogbe et al. (2004) have also investigated the use of Azolla as a supplementary food for fish, because:
“In many developing countries people lack sufficient animal protein. In Benin, the main protein source is fish; however, consumption thereof is very low (7 kg year) compared to the adult requirement of fish or animal meat per year (30 kg year).”
Fish culture could be a means to increase animal protein consumption not only in Benin but also in most of the developing countries that lack sufficient animal protein. However, in a project financed by the European Union from 1978 to 1990, fish production in Benin fell due mainly to the high cost of the feed.”
They investigated Azolla microphylla’s potential to produce low-cost feeds for the omnivorous–phytoplanktonophagous tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus with diets ranging from zero to 45% diet dry weight of Azolla.
Fiogbe et al. (2004) found that all diet levels with incorporated Azolla meal exhibited weight gain, indicating that Azolla can be used with local products to promote fish culture development. They. concluded that the least expensive diet, which comprised 45% Azolla, could be used as a complementary diet for tilapia raised in fertilized ponds and recommended Azolla’s use for fish culture in rural areas, and mainly wetlands.
Other trials have focused on Azolla’s use as a feed for the grass carpCtenopharyngodon idell. This species has a short, inefficient digestive system and, at suitable water temperatures, will consume daily more than their own weight of aquatic weeds. The fish showed a marked preference for Azolla, Lemna, and other small floating weeds (Edwards, 1975; Varghese et al., 1976).
Azolla feed for the shellfish Abalone
Abalone are a group of marine gastropod mollusks that have a worldwide distribution along the coastal waters of every continent, except the Atlantic coast of South America, the Caribbean, and the east coast of the United States. Most abalone species are found in cold waters off the Southern Hemisphere coasts of New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and western North America and Japan in the Northern Hemisphere.
Farming of abalone began in the late 1950s in Japan and China. Since the mid-1990s, there have been many increasingly successful endeavors to commercially farm abalone for food. Over-fishing and poaching have reduced wild populations to such an extent that farmed abalone now supplies most of the abalone eaten by people. The principal abalone farming regions are China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, and abalone is also farmed in Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.
Abalone are herbivores and feed in the wild on seaweeds such as Gracilaria andGraciliariopsis, and one of the main concerns in abalone farming is the high cost of feed. A study conducted by Ofelia Reyes and Armando Fermin at The Philippines’SEAFDEC/AQD was therefore undertaken to determine if their diet could be supplemented or replaced by terrestrial plants such as Carica papaya, Leucaena leucocephala, Moringa oleifera, locally known as papaya, ipil-ipil and malunggay, respectively, plus Azolla pinnata.
Formulated diets in the study consisting of [1] M. oliefera and A. pinnata, and [2] L. leucocephala were fed daily to juvenile abalones at 2-3% of their body weights, whilst a control feed consisting of fresh Graciliariopsis bailinae was given daily at 30% of the total body weight.
After 120 days, the results showed that:
§ Growth rates of abalone fed M. oliefera and A. pinnata were significantly higher than those fed L. leucocephala, and approximated the same as those fed freshG. bailinae.
§ Abalone fed on M. oleifera, A. pinnata and fresh G. bailinae showed greater weight gains compared with fed the L. leucocephala-based diet.
§ Abalone fed M. oleifera and A. pinnata had a significantly higher protein productive value (PPV) of 79.9, compared to a value of 12.3 for those fed G. bailinae.
The study concluded that M. oleifera and A. pinnata could be used as to supplement the diets for abalone because they are available year-round and contain essential nutrients to support the growth of H. asinina.
For more details see the SEAFDEC/AQD website.