‘Floating feed is better for fish’
What is your opinion on shifting from under farm to floating feed for aquatic species?In the past we used to feed fish with sinking feed but research has shown that it has to be fed with floating feed because of the time the fish will spend to go down looking for the feed and it […]
What is your opinion on shifting from under farm to floating feed for aquatic species?
In the past we used to feed fish with sinking feed but research has shown that it has to be fed with floating feed because of the time the fish will spend to go down looking for the feed and it will also help to prevent pollution. If you pour your sinking feed in water, the feed will go down. Much of the feed will not be seen by fish and they will not be taken up. Therefore, the feed will decompose and cause organic pollution problem. But if it floats, it means the feed will be on top of the water. Research has been able to develop this, taking advantage of the parties of the ingredients and the machines that you can use in the technology we called extrusion and expansion feed technology. When the feed floats all the fishes will maximise their ability to see the feed, eat much of the feed and in 30 minutes it is gone. Whereas, if it is a sinking feed, much of it goes down and particularly, when you have earthen pond, most of the feed will go and built up with mud and decompose because they are organic materials and create a foul odour. The fishes hardly survive in such an environment. It is a problem.
What are the possible challenges to be encountered by a fish farmer using floating feed?
For the fact that it is floating and visible to everybody, targeted organisms will go for the feed. It is not only the fish that will feed on the feeds. If a passing toad sees something floating it will mistake it for its own food and take it. In this situation, there is a competition between target and non-target organisms, whereas if it is the type that goes down only those that can go down will go for it. However, if you secure your farm properly and ensure that only your fish are there, the feed will be fully maximised.
What is so special about using soybeans as feed for fish?
Soybeans were identified internationally as a makeup crop at the time when we had world food security problem as a result of which the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, carried out a research sponsored by Canada Industrial Development Research Council (IDRC) aimed at addressing the problem. You could remember around that time it was very expensive to go for animal protein, particularly beef. People looked for an alternative and found that soybeans can provide the basic protein. That project was carried out in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and some selected other West African countries. In the late 80s and early 90s soybeans was everywhere, the project developed soybeans milk, cheese, yoghurt and from the residue soya, garri was made, Soya moi-moi, Soya egusi and the cheese could be processed, fried and served as meal. If you observed carefully, it was a solution to food security at that time.
Since scientific analysis of soybeans nutrient profile indicated that the crop is as good as fish, can we say soybeans is good enough to replace fish?
It cannot. That is why we called fish milk a miracle because fish milk is of high profile index in terms of amino acid and fatty acid. Fish nutrient is first class miracle for all. It is for the infant, adult and the elderly. For the infant, the fish has special oil which is the best oil you can get. Fatty acid in an oil is good for children’s sight. For adults, fish oil has a source for vitamin E and then for the elderly the fish oil has what we called anti-cloistral capable of reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease in human.
What about soybeans fractionalisation in the diet of the aquatic?
We have soybeans fraction and soybeans blend. Fraction is when you fractionalised your soybeans into the bran, residue and milk. When I was in UK for a PhD programme I was to work on soybeans fraction but due to lack of bigger cool storage facility, I worked on soybeans blend because it does not require bigger cool storage facility. I took on blend to compensate on nutrient deficiency in soybeans. When I came back to Nigeria I told myself that the original idea must not die and I wrote a research proposal to International Foundation for Science. Fortunately, a grant for the project was approved. It may interest you to note that from that project I graduated a PhD student who is now a professor. The project was concluded and I presented a paper on it in several conferences.