FORAGE AND NUTRITION

In a bid to cut costs in respect of feeds especially owing to the escalating prices of both plant and animal protein like mukene (silver fish), sunflower, and cotton seed cake, we resolved to use the highly protein content plants and have gone ahead to multiply them on the farm though not yet at a commercial level. These include Lemna (Duckweed) which we intend to feed to pigs, dairy and poultry. The experiment was initially done in a small pond (see picture below) of 3mx4m in which two kgs of lemna was introduced.

Home grown maize for silage and grain for maize bran
Hay purchase
Plant residues from community especially maize stovers and sweet potato vines .

Cutting Cost

Lemna introduced in this pond

It was fed on cow dung/urine as a source of urea and other nutrients. Within 2 weeks, it had multiplied to 18 kgs on first harvest. We have been harvesting it every week yielding about 7 kgs. This prompted us to expand the project to larger pond of 21mx4.8m shown below.

15 kgs of Lemna was introduced in this pond on 5th September 2018 and it multiplied to over 48kgs within one week owing to the high nutritious content of the organic fertilizers. Note the thick deep green mat cover in the pond below. It was doubling its biomass almost every 3 days. It is evident that it can double in size every several days under optimal nutrient and water temperate conditions.