Source: USDA ARS, 10/15/20
Cows and horses aren't the only
fans of alfalfa. Yellow perch like it, too. That's what Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) scientists and their collaborators concluded when they fed the
fish pellets made with a protein concentrate from the legume crop's
protein-rich leaves. They're experimenting with
alfalfa as part of a broader effort to find suitable alternatives to using
fishmeal, a protein-rich ingredient in aquaculture feeds given to
"farm-raised" finfish and shellfish. Aquaculture is the
fastest-growing sector of the food industry worldwide, generating $1.37 billion
in U.S. sales alone. However, there's concern that increasing consumer demand
for aquaculture products will outpace what the ocean's wild-caught stock of
sardine, anchovy, menhaden and other small forage fish can supply as a fishmeal
resource for aquafeeds. According to Deborah Samac, who
leads the ARS Plant Science Research Unit in St. Paul, Minnesota, formulating
aquafeeds with plant-based proteins could help lessen the need for fishmeal in
aquafeeds, reducing aquaculture's impact on aquatic natural resources. Using
nutritious, affordable alternatives to fishmeal could also ease the burden on
pelagic fish populations, which are important members of the marine ecosystem
and its inhabitants, particularly larger predatory species. Soybean meal, barley and algae
are among alternatives being explored or already commercialized. Now, many of
the same qualities that make alfalfa "Queen of the Forages" (and
third largest U.S. field crop) could put it on the aquafeed shortlist as well.
These include a crude protein content of 15 to 22 percent and a rich assortment
of vitamins, including A, B and D, as well as minerals such as magnesium and
copper. Alfalfa is typically fed to dairy
cows, beef cattle and horses as hay, silage or a direct forage. But it can also
be "juiced" for its protein concentrate, and that's the form Samac
and her University of Minnesota (UM) collaborators used for their yellow perch
feeding trials. The actual formulation process
can involve passing alfalfa leaves through a screw press, squeezing out juices and
then heating and centrifuging them to produce a protein concentrate, which is
then dried and processed into small pellets along with other ingredients. The feeding trial results showed
that perch given pellets containing the alfalfa protein concentrate (APC)
gained somewhat less weight than perch given fishmeal formulations. But there
was little difference between their health, longevity and overall wellbeing.
Their fillet yields, quality, composition and flavor were also similar, the
researchers reported in a paper submitted to the journal Aquaculture Reports. According to Samac, alfalfa could
help impart greater sustainability to the $133.5 billion global aquafeed market
by virtue of the ecosystem "services" and other benefits the crop
provides. For example, as a legume, it is a
super star at naturally converting atmospheric nitrogen into a form that corn
and other crops can use for their growth, alleviating the need to apply
chemical fertilizers. Alfalfa's robust growth makes it an ideal cover crop, anchoring
soil, retaining its moisture, helping it store carbon and controlling weeds.
Alfalfa flowers are also important food for both wild and domesticated bees,
contributing to the latter's production of honey, wax and other products. Samac said additional studies are
underway to fine-tune the APC concentrations used in aquafeed formulations,
evaluate different processing methods, and expand feeding trials, which include
rainbow trout. Value-added uses for byproducts of the APC juicing process will
also be explored, she added. Her collaborators on the effort are Jessica Coburn, Scott Wells, Craig Sheaffer, Roger Ruan and Nicholas Phelps—all of UM in St. Paul—and Gibson Gaylord of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Bozeman Fish Technology Center. Collaborators on the expanded trials include Dong Fang Deng (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Matt Digman (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and animal physiologist Brian Shepherd, with ARS' Dairy Forage Research Unit in Madison, WI. The Agricultural Research Service is
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency.
Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America.
Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $20 of economic
impact.
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