Hi folks
I was looking at the protein content of duckweed and the protein content of the waterfern azolla.
Seems that the way to do this is to grow them up in shallow buckets or trays and add cow manure to the water. Say 5 %.
Apparently this will boost the protein levels in duckweed to amazing levels - 40 - 45%. I would imagine that Azolla would respond similarly.
Duckweed and azolla therefore have great protein content - (on a par with soyabeans, peas and lupins) if raised correctly and can double their biomass in 2 to 3 days.
I have recently been grabbing a small handful of duckweed and azolla and just crushing it in my hand to a paste before throwing it in my tilapia bin. They don't get all excited by it, but it gets eaten.
I give them a little goldfish flake in the evening, followed by a little ground pig food, micro worms now and again, a few compost worms, some rabbit droppings occaisionally, and in the morning they get the azolla and the duckweed.
I am going to try and stop the flake when the small ones get a little bigger and then feed them mainly on Azolla, duckweed, any other veggies such as eggplant and lettuce, and composting worms. Hopefully this will mean that they cost me nothing at all to feed.
Apparently duckweed and azolla are the ideal fishfood for tilapia - but I think a little variety thrown in will help regards overall health and access to a wide spectrum of vitamins etc.
I have just set up two bins at school to take 10 tilapia each. I am just waiting on a couple of heaters. If I get my act together one will be fed duckweed and one Azolla.
(I was going to do rabbit poop, but I think the protein level is too low at 15 - 18 %.
Will be interesting for sure.
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