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ABSTRACT

Azolla is a small fast-growing free-floating fern and its faster growth habitat, high multiplication rate, abundant source of protein for mono-gastric animals. High biomass production and increasing demand for organic food, Azolla has gained importance in recent years. Due to its high nutritional values and protein content Azolla is suitable for feed supplement for a variety of animals like goats, cattle, buffalo, fish, ducks, cattle, poultry, etc. to reduce feed cost and helps to increase milk production.

Keywords: Azolla, feed supplement, Live-stocks

The name Azolla is derived from the Greek word azo (to dry) and allyo (to kill) meaning that a plant dies when it dries. The genus Azolla established by J. B. Lamark as early as 1783 (Svenson et al., 1994) was placed in the family Salvinaceae of the order Salviniales. There are seven or eight extant and more than forty fossil Known species of Azolla (Fowler et al., 1975 and Hills et al., 1967).  Azolla is a small fast-growing free-floating fern that has global distribution. It is a dichotomously branched free-floating aquatic fern naturally available on moist soils, ditches and marshy ponds. The shape of Indian species is typically triangular measuring about 1.5 to 3.0 cm in length, 1 to 2 cm in breadth. Fronds have tiny roots usually associated with rich microphyll (Roger and Renaud, 1979), short branched stem called rhizome covered with small alternate overlapping leaves the sporophyte has dorsiventral organization (Peters and Calvert, 1983) and each leaf is divided into the dorsal and ventral lobe.

Azolla is very rich in protein, essential amino acids, vitamins (A, B, Beta carotene), growth promoter intermediaries and minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, ferrous, copper, magnesium, etc.  Azolla on a dry weight basis is constituted of 25-30% protein, 10-15% mineral and 7-10% a combination of amino acids, bioactive substances and biopolymers.  Carbohydrates and oil content is very low.

Azolla is used as a food supplement for a variety of animals including goats, cattle, buffalo, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and fish (Hove, 1989). Azolla is harvested in large quantities and utilized as fodder for cattle and pigs. It was also found that broilers feed with Azolla resulted in growth and body weight values similar to those resulting from the use of maize-soya bean meal. Das (1994) found that digested Azolla slurry remaining after biogas production was suitable as fish pond fertilizer. In the study lactating cows found that Azolla could be used as a feed ingredient with milk yields and the fat percentage being maintained at the same levels as with conventional feeds (Nik-khah and Talab, 1992).

 Table 1. Nutritional compositions of common Azolla species

Nutritional content	A. microphylla	A. pinnata
Crude protein (%)	23.69	17.50
Crude fiber (%)	15.02	16.54
Total ash (%)	28.71	25.28
Calcium (%)	2.07	1.67
Phosphorous (%)	0.77	0.46
Iron (%)	0.249	0.231
Manganese (%)	0.274	0.205
Sodium (%)	0.488	0.777
Potassium (%)	4.93	2.19
Copper (ppm)	17.55	15.90
Zinc (ppm)	71.75	46.77
Magnesium (ppm)	0.173	0.155
Moisture (%)	5.0	5.0

Material Required for Azolla Production

1. Cement concrete / Silpauline water pond                  

2. Fertile soil

3. Cow dung                                                                        

4. Super phosphate

5. Water                                                                                

6. Azolla culture

7. Sieve

Azolla Production

·   An artificial water pond is made, preferably under the shade of a tree, with the help of silpauline sheet.

·   A pit of the size of 2m × 2m × 0.2m is a first step.

·   This pit is covered with plastic gunnies to prevent the roots of the nearby trees from piercing the silpauline sheet, which is spread over the plastics gunnies.

·   About 10-15 kg of sieved fertile soil is uniformly spread over the silpauline sheet

·   Slurry made up of 2 kg cow dung and 30 gm of super-phosphate in 10 lit.  water is poured onto the sheet.

·   More water is poured to make the water level reach about 10 cm.

·   About 500 gm to 1 kg of fresh and pure culture of Azolla is inoculated in the pit.

·   Azolla will rapidly grow and fill the pit within 10-15 days and about 500-600 gm of Azolla can be harvested daily thereafter.

·   A mixture of 20 gm of super-phosphate and about 1 kg of cow dung should be added once in 5 days.

·   This is done to keep the Azolla in the rapid multiplication phase and to maintain the daily yields of 500 gm per pit.

·   Micronutrient mix containing magnesium, iron, copper, sulphur, etc., can also be added at weekly intervals to enhance the mineral content of Azolla.

Precautions in Azolla Production

·   A shady place, preferably under a tree, with sufficient sunlight should be chosen for Azolla production.

·   All corners of the pit should be of the same level so that the water level can be maintained uniformly.

·   About 5 kg bed soil should be replaced with fresh soil, once in 30 days, to avoid nitrogen built up and prevent micronutrient deficiency.

·   25 to 30% water also needs to be replaced with freshwater, once in 10 days, to prevent nitrogen built up in the bed.

·   Replacement of water and soil should be followed by fresh inoculation of Azolla, at least once in six months.

Harvesting of Azolla

·   Azolla should be harvested with a plastic tray having holes of 1 sq.cm mesh size to drain the water.

·   The tray along with Azolla should be kept in a bucket, half-filled with water. Azolla should be washed to get rid of the cow dung smell.

Advantages of Azolla

·   It is used as an ideal animal feed

·   To increase the growth and production of animal

·   To improve the health of the animal

·   To increase the milk yield is to the tune of 10 to 15%, which went up to 20% during the summer season.

Use as a livestock feed

·   It can be used as an ideal feed substitute for cattle, fish and poultry.

·   Mixed with concentrate feed

·   Fresh Azolla should be mixed with commercial feed in a 1:1 ratio to feed livestock.

·   After a fortnight of feeding on Azolla mixed with regular feed, livestock may be directly fed with Azolla, without the addition of regular feed material.

·   Save 25 to 40 per cent feed, Increase milk production 10 to 15 %

 Conclusion

Utilization of Azolla as feed supplement due to the abundant source of crude protein, trace minerals and vitamins. Hence it can be used as livestock feed as an unconventional feed to increases milk production up to 10-15 per cent and also save 25-40 per cent of feed.

References

Das, D., Sikdar, K., Chetterjee, A. K. (1994). Potential of Azolla pinnata as biogas generator and as a fish feed, Indian J. Environ. Health. 36, 186-191.

Fowler, K. (1975). Megaspores and massullae of Azolla prisca from Oligocene of the isle of weight Palaeontology.18, 483-486.

Hills, L. V., Gopal, B. (1967). Azolla its phytogenetic significance Can. J. Bot. 45, 1179-1191.

Nik-khah, A., Motaghi-Talab, M. (1992). The use of Azolla in lactating cows, Iranian J. Agric. Sci., 23 47-56.

Peters, G. A., Calvert, H. E. (1983). The Azolla-Anabaena, symbiosis, Cambridge Univ. Press. Cambridge, pp.109-145.

Roger, P. A., Renaud, P. A. (1979). Ecology of blue green algae in paddy fields in nitrogen and rice IRRI, Los Benos. pp. 289-309.

Svenson, H. K. (1944). The new world species of Azolla Tam. Fern. J. pp. 34-69.

Van Hove, C. (1989). Azolla and its multiple use with emphasis on Africa, FAO, Rome, 21, 112-116.

Waseem, R., Rathaur, P., John, S., Ramteke, P.(2012). Azolla: An Aquatic Peterido-phyte with Great Potential. Int. J. of Res. in Bio. Sci. 2(2): 68-72. 

 

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Azolla Feed Supplement for Livestock.pdf