# Duck weed instead of soybeans



## Kotori (Jun 18, 2012)

Just wanted to share this interesting way to potentially lower feeding costs. It has up to 50% protein, doubles in volume in 1.2 days, and isn't picky about water quality. Cons are that it is 83%-97% water, so it would take alot of it. 


Here is a mineral chart: http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/nutritional-composition.htm

I have to admit, I had trouble using that one, so I hunted down this one. It talks about using it for chicken feed, but it has good information on growing it and compares it to corn and soybeans. http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Duckweed_as_chicken_feed/

More links: http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/feed-supplement.htm

Only question is how palatable the cows would find it.


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## secuono (Jun 18, 2012)

and you would have to have a ton of water surface, crazy fertilizer in the water and scoop it often. A lot of work for such a tiny plant.


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## Kotori (Jun 18, 2012)

Did you read the links?

It requires barely any fertilizer, and the fertilizer could be provided by cow manure.So no 'Crazy fertilizers'.  Yes, it would require water area, but it can produce an estimated 10 tonnes of protein per hectacre, compared to the 1 ton that soybeans produce per hectacre.

Quoted from last link:
"In terms of protein production, grown under ideal conditions in can produce 10 tonnes of protein per hectare per year. This compares with Soya bean which produces less than 1 tonne per year. 
Duckweed is good for the environment because it doesnt require artificial fertilizers, on the contrary it cleans up waste by removing organic and inorganic nitrogen coming from decomposition of organic matter, contributing to the fight against eutrophication. It doesnt need fungicides and has no significant natural pests."


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## Baymule (Jun 20, 2012)

More on duckweed:

http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/09/08875.htm

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/extern...265_3970128103342/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf

As I understand it, it can be dried for winter feed. That would be a lot of slopping in the "swamp" and a lot of drying mounds of duckweed for a small pile of fluff. LOL Still, it sounds like a real cheap way to get a good quality feed.


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## Symphony (Jun 20, 2012)

I suppose if you had drainage fields or something it could work but it seems like a lot of work.


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## jhm47 (Jun 22, 2012)

Let's push some numbers here:

A 1000 lb cow needs around 3 - 3.5% dry matter to maintain her body.  That would be 30 - 35 lbs of DRY matter.

Duckweed contains 83 - 97% moisture, so let's use 90% as a base figure.  That would mean that 10% is dry matter.

In order for a cow to get her 30 lbs of dry matter, she would need to eat 300 lbs of duckweed each day, and she would be overloaded with far too much water for her body to process.

Even if you could somehow squeeze out 75% of the moisture, the cow would need to eat 75 lbs of the stuff to maintain. 

Then, there's also the issue of palatability, and protein quality profile, and possible overload of other nutrients. 

Not a viable idea IMHO.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 22, 2012)

jhm47 said:
			
		

> Let's push some numbers here:
> 
> A 1000 lb cow needs around 3 - 3.5% dry matter to maintain her body.  That would be 30 - 35 lbs of DRY matter.
> 
> ...


Don't forget a HUGE problem with bloat with the amount of protein in this feed!

No certainly not a viable nor economical solution to feeding cattle.  I think you'd go broke quicker feeding this stuff than feeding the most expensive hay you can get your hands on.


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## aless79 (Jun 27, 2013)

For more information about soybean fertilizer you can visit the site of Haifa


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## aless79 (Jun 27, 2013)

here is the link : http://www.haifa-group.com/knowledg...o_get_healthier_and_higher_soybean_yield.aspx


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## xa.logan (Jun 29, 2013)

The protein quality is actually about standard. What can be done, of course is use half the amount of duckweed. And be sure it's dried first. We've been researching duckweed to reduce the cost of feed in low resource; high population density areas. Turns out that dried duckweed just about covers a chickens entire diet when you mixed it in a 1:1 ratio with their normal layer formula. Duckweed worked excellently for goats, chickens, rabbits, and various other game birds. There did not appear to be decreased palatability but when given a choice, none of the animals ate the duckweed when offered solely with normal food. 

We concluded that using duckweed as a supplement to whatever 'normal' food was being fed that animals gained mass at the same rate, and had similar carcass weights to livestock fed only 'normal' food. I believe we fed rabbits a 50/50 blend of duckweed/normal fodder, goats a 45/55, chickens a 50/50, cows a 45/55, and ducks a 70/30. 

Duckweed might not be a primary protein or replacement fodder but it can substantially decrease food cost. We did another study with various cacti if you're interested. 

These studies were done with the agricultural department at NMSU within the year. 

Oh, for dehydrating. We places duckweed on large mesh screens and used a large fan. Worked easily in the dry climate.


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## Mike Fronczak (Jun 29, 2013)

Our pond is infested with the stuff, just for the I scooped some out last year (maybe a trash can worth), & put it in the pasture.  The cows never touched it, left it to rot.  As others have said it was a a lot of work just to get that amount, not worth it.


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (Jun 29, 2013)

*We grow duckweed to feed our tilapia. It works pretty good once you get the kinks worked out. Duckweed needs a lot of surface area and we live in the desert so that means a lot of evaporation, so we had to refill the pools constantly. We also had to keep it in the shade and away from the dogs like that liked to go in to pools. Overall once you get it down it was pretty easy to maintain, but come fall we had a hard time growing enough for the fish. I could see how this might work somewhere maybe on the East Coast where you could grow this stuff in ponds, but not out here on the West Coast.*


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## greybeard (Jul 13, 2013)

It's pretty invasive and listed as such on most states' invasive plants roster. 
For feeding even a few bovines, it would have to be dried and probably have to have other feeds or something like molasses added to it to get cattle to eat it.


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