Potential use of phototrophic algae as protein and/or lipid source in aqua-feeds

Thanks for the paper. In fact majority of the fin fish farmers in West Bengal do not favor the inclusion of any protein from animal origin like fish meal,fish oil etc. Inclusion of algae as a source of protein and fat will certainly encourage them and at last rightly been commented: " supplies increase and costs decrease, algal biomass and biomass extracts will continue to occupy niche markets within the aqua-feed sector".Again I want to convey sincere appreciation to Dr. Ingrid Lupatsch for her reseach. Dr.Biplab kumar Banerjee

verywell thanks

Duckweed can provide a high protein, inexpensive source of protein in fish and livestock diets. Contact me on Linkedin for details: Louis Landesman, Ph.D

Duck weed , Eichornia etc. all these types of aquatic floating weeds may be a good source of protein but fact remains they are good absorbers of heavy metals of various types too. Inclusion of these in aqua feed as ingredients needs verification. Dr.Biplab kumar Banerjee

In my experience in Central America, with shrimp ant tilapia ponds, indicates that promoting micro algae in ponds has a very positive effect in the feed conversion rate (FCR). In average you can reduce your FCR in 0.2-0.4 enhancing de micro algae growth. Specially diatoms, Cyclothella sp. , Navicula sp, Chaetoceros sp, among others. Also this increase of algae will create a better dissolved oxygen condition during all day.

How can we try this in Africa

Algae are like any other agricultural crop; they get weeds growing among them. Discuss: How you control unwelcome algal invaders as some can toxic?

@ paul roberts, we use a specific bacteria to keep cyano bacteria away. and we grow chlorella to feed shrimps. we also grow daphnia and we feed the daphnia to trout and shrimp. but the key is chlorella. very high in protein. and the shrimps grow faster

This is one of the areas that need serious development in aquaculture especially in Africa.

Can we work on an isolation procedure of the algae and start its culture steps ?

Dear Dr. Ingrid Lupatsch, given that your data is pretty much a full description of the experimental evidence thus far,it may be an idea the break down the cell walls of these algae using ultrasonics as this kills the algal specie by actually breaking down the cell walls which thus kill the algal species targeted. I am aware that not all algal species have cell walls that will break down with ultrasound, by by varying the signal frequency and choosing the attack the algal species at a particular time in their growth cycle and before the walls thicken up too much one may be able to control the harvesting cycle to suit the particular algal sp. Given that fish only require a fifth of the amount of live feed to grow at for times the rate of farmed fish one can see that manufactured food is most inefficient and expensive way to produce farmed fish. Carnivorous species will and do grow amazingly well on live food and are under nourished on manufactured food. Yes, all fish are not the same and the way the way that they have continued to present susceptibility to farmed influences for the last 50 years must be worrying.. Thank you for your comments Dr. Ingrid Lupatsch.