Fish Nutrition and Feed Technology (2+1)

Unit 11 - Different forms of feed

11.6.Farm-made feeds
Farm-made feeds may be defined as small scale feed manufacture encompassing everything from simple hand formed dough balls to small feed production units. They are an alternative to commercial feeds. Farm made aquafeeds can be prepared from a wide range of locally available ingredients. They may consist of single raw materials such as rice bran or groundnut cake, simple mixture of ingredients, or complete formulated compound feeds compacted by hand or by machine. However, physical qualities of farm made feeds are relatively inferior to commercial feeds. The cost of farm made feeds will usually be low.

Some of the drawbacks of farm-made feeds;

• Most of the farm made feed disintegrate easily and therefore pollute the culture system quickly.
• The availability of trash fish is constantly declining due to the ever increasing demand for live stock feed preparation
• The quality of feed is mainly depending on the raw material used.
• Information of the digestibility of locally available ingredients are not available
• The nutritional value of farm made feed is highly variable from place to place.
• The quantity and quality of the farm-made feeds cannot be controlled.
• Due to poor road connectivity and transportation facility, ingredients are not always available at the places and times when they are required.
• Farm-made feeds for large scale production units are not feasible

Though there are some drawbacks, the use of farm-made feeds in low intensive crustacean farms and carp units remains a viable option. If properly prepared, farm-made feed can provide all essential nutrients and proper growth rate can be achieved. There is a potential for improved profitability in small scale aquaculture units through farm-made feeds.