National Research Development Corporation

Technology offer

Azolla Based Animal Feed Pellets

The Know how offers a novel process of production of Azolla Based Feed Pellets for Cattle, Poultry, Fish and other farm animals. The feed pellets are nutrient rich and contains many vitamins and minerals. The process is cost effective, easy, and ecofriendly. During feeding trials of livestock animals an increase in the production of milk, meat and egg has been observed. The technology also includes the method of cultivation of a stress tolerant variety of Azolla, with high biomass and nutrient content. The Indian animal feed industry is broadly categorized into poultry, cattle and aqua feed. There is low level of awareness on animal nutrition in the country. Commercially manufactured compound animal feed typically consists of raw material such as corn starch, liquid glucose, dextrose, corn gluten meal, soy meal, mineral mixtures and usually devoid of required vitamin and protein content. There is a huge deficit in the availability of plant protein or organic protein for livestock for meeting the increasing demand for milk meat and egg. The global protein deficit in livestock production is again met from chemical protein supplements like urea, synthetic steroids, growth boosters containing heavy metals like chromium, selenium and a variety of antibiotics etc. The residues of the above synthetic chemicals largely used in commercial livestock production become a threat to the health and longevity of both the livestock and human beings. In recent years, the demand for milk and meat has increased many folds. There is a substantial decrease in fodder production from traditional source due to the decreasing area under forest and grassland. The fodder availability from various crops has also decreased largely due to the introduction of high yielding dwarf varieties of paddy, wheat etc. The shortage of fodder is compensated with commercial feed, which, however, has increased the cost of production of meat and milk. Use of steroids and other innovation like by-pass protein technology have still reduced the ratio. The price of concentrate feed has also increased and is continuing to rise due to spiraling energy costs and shortage of raw materials. Azolla has been found to be a potential bio-feed capable of filling the protein deficiency. The feed packages for cattle, goat, poultry, quail etc were perfected after extensive feeding trials. The saving of feed concentrate is 20 30%

and the increase in productivity is 10 15%. The milk, meat, egg and rice produced with the help of Azolla can also fetch higher price due to their many nutritional advantage. Studies showed that Azolla is rich in protein. It is also found to contain essential minerals like Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorous, Copper, Manganese etc., apart from appreciable quantities of vitamins A precursor and Vitamin B12. It also contains almost all the essential Amino acids, many probiotics, Biopolymers and Beta-carotene. The bio-chemical constitution along with the rapid multiplication rate makes Azolla an ideal organic feed substitute for livestock. Livestock easily digest Azolla due to its high protein and low lignin content. Trials carried out with Azolla as feed substitute demonstrated an overall increase of milk with Azolla along with regular feed. It is also found that Azolla feeding improves the quality of milk, and the health and longevity of animals. Azolla feeding also improves the weight of broiler chicken and increase the egg production of layers. Azolla can also be fed to sheep, goat, pig, and rabbit as feed substitute. Azolla being a cost-effective bio-feed raw material with very low energy cost stands to be a prospective source for sustainable livestock management. There is a good scope for setting up feed processing plants of different capacities for production of quality animal feed. The present supply for various feeds does not meet the total requirement. Moreover, the demand for small ruminants (goat and sheep), Chickens, rabbits and pigs is not properly estimated. Considering their requirements, the gap is much more. Azolla Based Animal Feed Pellets technology can be instrumental in the production of organic milk, organic meat and organic eggs.

For Further Details Kindly Contact : Dr. Ashish Kumar Srivastava Scientific Officer National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) (An Enterprise of DSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt.of India) 20-22, Zamroodpur Community Centre, Kailash Colony Extension, New Delhi: 110048 EPABX : +91-11-29240401-08 Extn. 219 Mobile : +91-11-9818995833 Skype : asrivastava.nrdc Email : Email: asrivastava@nrdc.in; asrivastava.nrdc@gmail.com Website : http://www.nrdcindia.com