Harnessing the nutritional potential of duckweed as a protein source in ruminant diet

Duckweed is a promising protein source as a ruminant diet. Therefore, the duckweed samples were evaluated at varying levels to study the effect of its supplementation as a key protein source by in-vitro gas production technique. The extent of their dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), and ash content were analyzed and there was 7.55 % DM, 24.5% CP, 3.5% EE and 20.07% ash. In-vitro studies revealed that the duckweed supplementation affected total gas production linearly and quadratically with concentrate ration (P<0.001). IVDMD and IVOMD were significantly higher in TMR-10. The partition factor (PF) was 4.25mg/dl in the control which was significantly lower as compared to 4.82 mg/dl in TMR-30 (30% duckweed). The ME value decreased significantly with an increase in duckweed inclusion and was minimal in TMR-30 (5.15 MJ/kg). It can be concluded that 10% replacement of the concentrate mixture can be done by duckweed in a TMR having 70:30 roughage to concentrate mixture ratio without any adverse effect.