Trials Show Success

U.S. sorghum and corn may be on the menu soon for Vietnamese catfish, thanks to recent feeding trial results from the U.S. Grains Council (USGC).

Vietnam produced an estimated 1.2 million tons of catfish in 2014, requiring an estimated 2.4 million tons of compound feed, traditionally sourced from locally-available cassava. However, the demand for cassava for aquaculture, swine and even fuel ethanol production has risen significantly while domestic production has not increased in the last five years, leading to concerns about supply and price.

“Fish is the one of the most affordable protein sources in the Southeast Asia region,” said Manuel Sanchez, USGC assistant director for South and Southeast Asia. “Aquaculture is a key sector primed for potential import growth, providing U.S. feed grains a substantial market opportunity.”

为了测试代替高粱或玉米木薯的生存能力，该委员会最近缔结了Pangasius的国内喂养试验，Pangasius是东南亚的中等大型cat鱼，也称为Basa Fish或Bocourti。

The trials were conducted at a private research farm in Vietnam and compared diets based on sorghum (20 percent inclusion rate), corn (10 percent inclusion rate) or cassava (15 percent inclusion rate). They concluded both grains could replace cassava as a source of starch for feeding Pangasius.

Results showed no difference between the sources of starch on growth performance, fillet color or physical properties of feed pellets (density and floatability). Beyond starch, sorghum is also low in tannins and contains higher protein (more than 10 percent versus 2.5 percent) and amino acids (similar to corn) than cassava, particularly tryptophan and threonine.

新数据将加强理事会所承担的努力来推广玉米和高粱的新用途，例如水产养殖。

“Both grains - sorghum and corn - can be used for feeding catfish, but limited research on doing so is available,” Sanchez said. “This report helps fill a need for information about feeding sorghum and corn to Vietnamese catfish as a substitute for cassava.”

Read the full reporthere.