BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF COMMON MACROPHYTES AND THEIR POTENTIAL USES

Abstract

A major constraint to livestock production in developing countries is the scarcity and fluctuating quantity and quality of the year-round feed supply. Providing adequate good quality feed to livestock to raise and maintain their productivity is a major challenge to agricultural scientists all over the world. The increase in population and rapid growth in world economies will lead to an enormous increase in demand for animal products, a large part of which will be from developing countries. Future hopes of feeding millions of people and ensuring food security will depend on the enhanced and efficient utilization of alternative feed resources. Forage-based economical feeding strategies are required to reduce production cost of quality livestock products; as feed alone constitutes 60-70% of production cost. At present, the country faces a net deficit of 35.6 per cent of green fodder, 26 per cent of drycrop residues and 41 per cent of concentrate feed ingredients. This can be compensated using macrophyte meals. With proper research, this idea can be perfected and with proper application, this can prove to be a lucrative option for animal husbandry. Even though several authors have worked on the AA profile, few have studied the fatty acid profiles of these plant. Data on fatty acid content in terms of dry weight from literature is difficult to find and even inconclusive, therefore this project mainly targets fatty acid profiling. The present study has concluded that these macrophytes are rich in linolenic acid and palmitic acid with moderate amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids like arachidonic acid which are essential amino acid for growth for pigs and poultry. Crude protein estimations also showed satisfying results. Amino acid profile of A. pinnata show high amounts of lysine, an essential amino acid, critical for the growth of livestock and fish. This report concludes that due to its excellent nutritional properties, L. minor, S. polyrhiza and A. pinnata can efficiently serve as alternate feed sources for fish, poultry and pigs. It is favorable to replace a portion of the regular feed with macrophyte meal instead of providing 100% macrophyte meals. This could prove to be a lucrative option, as cost of feed is expected to decrease with macrophyte addition.