Philippines - PD/A CRSP Eighth Work Plan

In previous work plans, research in the Philippines was reported as part of the Thailand work plan because the Philippines functioned as a companion site to the CRSP prime site in Thailand. After review by the CRSP advisory groups, a restricted Request for Proposals (RFP) has been issued to find a lead US university for a prime site in the Philippines. The Global Experiment is being postponed until the new lead university has been determined. Currently, only one study is scheduled to be conducted at the Freshwater Aquaculture Center of the Central Luzon State University. This experiment attempts to develop low-cost supplemental feeds by using agricultural by-products.

The project will determine if agriculture by-products including rice bran or straw can be used in pelleted diets. Yeast and rice bran or composted straw will be tested as possible ingredients. Since tilapia are frequently ingesting detrital plant materials we expect that the fish may be able to recover significant nutritional value from these products. Introduction of simple pelleting equipment will also be a goal of the project. Compression pelleting can reduce the amount of fine particles of feed not consumed by fish which contribute to water fouling. Well formed pellets also improve the ability of the operator to broadcast feed to farmed populations of fish. Since compression pelleting requires less water in the dry mix of feed than meat grinding pellets, the finished pellet can have a lower moisture level which will improve shelf life and reduce spoilage.

We propose to develop low-cost, improved quality feeds utilizing yeast and composted ingredients as fish meal replacement and prepared on commercial pelleting equipment. Making lower cost supplemental feeds would increase the economic viability of cage culture in lagoons, ponds, lakes, rivers and irrigation systems in any aquaculture venture and allow for further increases in pond yield. Pelleting machines are a technological improvement over meat-grinding equipment. They require a larger capital investment but are equivalent in cost to operate, and provide an improved feed, with better stability in water and reduced production of fines which do not contribute to nutrition.

This project will contribute to increased production from small pond systems. Improvements to the feed manufacturing ability of the Freshwater Aquaculture Center (FAC) will facilitate nutritional studies for both tilapia and the other species studied at the FAC. Complete formulation diets are available but are quite expensive. Introduction of low-cost supplemental feeds would remove the constraint of access to these feeds and develop markets for yeast and certain agriculture by-products.

Supplemental feeds providing additional quantities of nutrients are needed when the productivity of a water body cannot provide for the number of fish stocked. Low cost, but good quality feeds are needed in ponds when farmers wish to produce more fish than can be supported from fertilized systems and in instances where cages are stocked with fish which do not have access to the entire water body for feeding. Cage culture in ponds, lakes and brackish lagoons provides a significant source of tilapia production in the Philippines. Many small farmers have been encouraged to build and utilize cages to increase their household income and nutrition. After construction of the cage, cost of feed becomes the major input cost for production of fish.

Two factors have been identified which could improve the quality and lower cost of aquaculture feeds produced within the Philippines and other countries with developing aquaculture industries. First, many feeds are currently prepared using meat grinders. Introducing pelleting technology can greatly improve feed stability and quality. Second, the source of protein tends to be a major cost factor in aquaculture feeds. Finding lower cost ingredients capable of supplying adequate protein nutrition is a major goal of fish nutrition research. In many developing countries, fish meal, the most common protein source in prepared feeds, is more expensive than yeast, a readily available protein source. Yeast has been shown to be an effective source of protein in aquaculture diets (Martin, 1993; Abdel-Halim, 1992). Bioreactor technology has lowered the cost of yeast production to be competitive with other protein sources. Additionally, certain organic materials which have been composted have also been shown to be a potential source of protein for aquaculture feeds. Sumagaysay (1991) demonstrated that composted rice straw could be used in milkfish diets and Ray (1992) reports that composted Salvinia cuculata, an aquatic weed, could be used in Indian carp diets. We propose to develop and test low-cost, improved quality feeds utilizing locally available ingredients and pelleting technology.

Increased tilapia and other warm water fish production from pond and cage systems would be applicable to most tropical and sub-tropical regions. Using low cost ingredients will allow small producers to rear more fish in a limited area without investing money in expensive nutritionally complete diets. Pelleting technology will provide a pellet which will have greater stability in the water and allow the fish to get the full benefit of the feed ingredients. Pelleting also reduces the production of fines, compared to feeds made on meat-grinders or pasta mills. Fines are feed particles not pressed into pellets, these are not available to the fish and can degrade water quality.

Tilapia and other warm water fish producers in the host countries would be the most immediate beneficiaries of the development of low cost feeds. Consumers of fish should be beneficiaries of larger volumes and lower cost fish products. Suppliers of yeast and compost products would benefit as new markets develop for their products.

The Freshwater Aquaculture Center at Central Luzon State University in the Philippines, has been a leader in Asian aquaculture research, especially in tilapia production, and has well equipped laboratories for feed and water analyses. Earthen and concrete ponds and wetlabs are available for feed studies. Cages are available at the FAC and at farms belonging to cooperating farmers. The host investigator supporting the program would be Mr. Eduardo Lopez from the FAC. Trained technicians and extension specialists will be available to support and extend the research.

The University of Arizona aquaculture program has feed mill equipment including pelleting equipment, lab facilities for water and feed analyses, stocks of tilapia, including Oreochromis niloticus, which are used for production trials in ponds and irrigation canals. Cooperator farmers work with the University scientists to improve local tilapia production techniques. Principal Investigator time will be donated by the University.

The pellet mill at the FAC in the Philippines will need to be renovated. A new motor is needed and replacement dies must be ordered. Food grade grease and other food grade lubricants will be ordered to maintain the equipment in proper working order. Before the pellet mill renovation, Mr. Lopez will travel to Arizona to observe the operation of a similar mill and discuss diet formulations and pond and cage stocking procedures. During his time in Arizona a finalized list will be developed including all the parts and supplies needed for the renovation and upgrading of the pellet mill at the FAC. The parts will be ordered while in Arizona to facilitate accurate ordering and timely delivery. The parts will either be sent directly to the FAC or will be accumulated by Fitzsimmons and the forwarded to FAC. Mr. Lopez will instruct the Arizona researchers on the pond management procedures to most closely approximate the procedures used in the Philippines. He will also visit other aquaculture facilities in Arizona. The following year Fitzsimmons will travel to the Philippines to observe the end of the harvest procedures and the stocking of the next set of trials. During that visit, Fitzsimmons will also visit nearby aquaculture facilities and be available to make presentations on the Arizona research.

Diet formulations utilizing yeast and composted materials will be prepared on pelleting equipment in the Philippines and Arizona. The yeast selected will be one that is commercially available in both the Philippines and Arizona, probably Saccharomyces cereviseae or Candida utilis. The composted diet will be based on a rice straw compost. The experimental feeds will be tested for stability in water and proximate analysis at the University of Arizona and at the FAC of Central Luzon State University. Feeding trials will be conducted with Oreochromis niloticus reared in cages in research ponds and at locations on cooperating farms. Initial stocking rates for the pond trials will be determined to correspond with the controls set for other pond production trials. Initial stocking rates for the cage trials will be 60 fingerlings per m³, with an expected harvest size of 500g each.

Three ponds will receive the pelleted yeast diet, three will receive the pelleted compost diet and three ponds will be operated as the controls without supplemental feed. All the ponds will receive the same fertilization regime. During the trials, twenty fish per replicate will be sampled on a monthly basis. Growth, survival, and cost of production will be determined for fish on experimental diets and the control ponds. Water quality parameters including dissolved oxygen, pH, alkalinity, nitrogen (ammonia, nitrites and nitrates), phosphate, Total Suspended Solids and turbidity or Secchi disk will be examined on a weekly basis. The cage trials will receive the pelleted yeast diet, a yeast diet prepared on a meat grinder, a pelleted compost diet and compost diet prepared on the meat grinder and a control with no supplemental feed. Four replicate 1m³ cages will be used for each treatment and the control. The cages will be placed in ponds with a typical fertilization regime. The cage trials will be repeated in Arizona in water storage ponds that are part of the irrigation system at the University of Arizona Experimental Farm. The hypothesis that the fish will all have equal growth will be tested with ANOVA. The tests will be performed with the assistance of SAS, SYSTAT or a comparable software package.

The primary pieces of technical equipment to be delivered will be components to repair and upgrade a California pellet mill capable of compressing ingredients into pellets suitable for aquaculture operations. Diets will be developed which utilize low cost ingredients to provide supplemental nutrition to fish reared in fertilized ponds or in cages anchored in ponds, lagoons, or irrigation systems. The diet formulations and procedures will be presented in open reports in the US and the Philippines. Additionally, the fish feed manufacturing facilities at the FAC will be upgraded.

November 1996: Develop tentative list of parts required for repair and upgrade of pellet mill

February 1997: Lopez to Arizona, finalize list of repairs and parts for mill, order parts while in Arizona

April 1997: Renovate pellet mill, stock ponds and cages in Arizona and Philippines

April 1998: Fitzsimmons to Philippines, plan second round of trials, stock ponds and cages

Final Report Submittal: The Final Report will be submitted to the Program Management Office in June 1999. Interim reports will be prepared as needed for PMO reporting and yearly technical or data reports.

Abdel-Halim, A. M. M. 1992. Microbial protein in fish feeding. Effect of replacement of fish meal with active and inactive yeast (Saccharomyces cereviseae) on growth performance, carcass composition and feed utilization by tilapia and carps. 2nd Alex. Conf. on Feed Technology. Feb. 1992. Alexandria, Egypt.

Ishak, M. M. 1986. Development of fish farming in Egypt (cage and pen culture). Rep. 4 (phase 2) Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries and the International Development Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt. 101pp.

Martin, A. 1993. Production of Candida utilis biomass as aquaculture feed. J. Sci. of Food and Agriculture 61:3.

Ray, A. 1992. Utilization of diets containing composted aquatic weed (Salvinia cuculata) by the Indian major carp, rohu (Labeo rohita) fingerlings. Bioresource Technology 40(1):67-72.

Sumagaysay, N. 1991. Utilization of feed and rice straw compost for milkfish, Chanos chanos, production in brackish water ponds. J. of Appl. Ichthyology - Zeitschrift fuer angewandte Ichthyologie 7(4):230-237.

The Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture CRSP is funded under USAID Grant No. LAG-G-00-96-90015-00 and by the participating US and Host Country institutions. Questions for or about the Aquaculture CRSP? Comments about this site? Email ACRSP@oregonstate.edu.

Disclaimers

Eighth Work Plan
1 August 1996 to 31 July 1998
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