OFFICE 138

FODDER PRODUCTION
HYDROPONICS
•What is hydroponic fodder production technology?

This is growing of fodder without soil but in water for a maximum of 6-7
days.
The water must be safe for human drinking.

You can sprout seeds of barley, maize, oats, wheat or sorghum to obtain
fodder for cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits, horses or poultry.
•Numerous hydroponic fodder production applied research attempts and
business ventures have been and are being conducted currently in the
world.

•Different approaches and technical solutions with diversified scale,

sophistication were developed, tested and put in routine production.
•Technologies vary from ones that are extremely small scale for producing
sprouted grain for backyard livestock operations to sophisticated, large,
automated commercial systems with controlled environment.

Research concludes that hydroponic fodder production, taking all factors

into account is best suited for producing supplement fodder for feeding
extensively reared poultry, dairy cows and high value breeding animals.
Globally, hydroponic fodder production has become popular as it may be
more competitive than classical agricultural production in certain contexts.

While viewed as high-tech or even prohibitively expensive technology it

can be in fact established by producing the equipment using locally
available materials and can be competitive way of producing fodder.
Hydroponic

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 Hydroponic fodder production steps
(a) Housing

• The hydroponic installation can be housed is a simple facility that allow for semi
controlled environment for better fodder growth

• The basic environmental requirements for best fodder growth are:

(i) Temperature for growth is 19 - 22 degrees Celcius

Best air humidity for growth of fodder is 40 to 80%

e hydroponic trays should never be exposed to direct sunlight, wind and

Hydroponic fodder housing
Inexpensive durable plastic sheeting or a net shade with 25 to 50% sunlight
infiltration can be used to prevent exposure to wind, direct sunlight and rain.

The floor must be solid either compacted earth, concrete to allow for easy
drainage of excess water or the water used for washing trays and soaking seeds

The floor has to be free of any equipment and garbage that serve as hiding places
for rodents
(b) Seeds to be used

• Hydroponic fodder production is best produced from barley, wheat and sorghum
seed since the seed sprout relatively fast and have faster growth than maize or
legumes

• Fast sprouting and growth are very important in the 7-9 days production cycle
technology
• Good quality, clean seed is recommended as it has good germination
• Seeds should be free from any chemicals
(c) Water quality

• Clean water is a very important factor as muddy water will cause your hydroponic
system to be contaminated

• The water should be drinkable with a temperature of 15 to 25 degrees Celcius

and pH of 6.2 to 6.4.
d) Production procedure

Disinfect seeds by soaking then in diluted chlorine solution (1-1.5%) or similar

disinfectant used to disinfect drinking water (e.g. Sodium hypochlorite, 4 -5 %) or
hydrogen peroxide (1.5%) for 2 hours to prevent mould/fungus growth

Drain the chlorinated water and rinse the seed thoroughly then soak the seed in
fresh clean water for 24 hrs to promote water uptake (imbibition) by the seed

r each tray that measures 80 cm x 40 cm x 4 cm measure 2 kg of seed

a wodden or plastic spreader to provide enough space for seed to sprout

Barley seed spread in tray Barley seed sprouting
• Leave 2-3 cm between the spread seed and the ends of the tray to allow room
for
expansion as the seed swell and sprout into a mat.

• After seeding the tray, return it into position on the hydroponic rack so its
irrigation can start.

• Ensure the trays have holes that are evenly spread at the bottom for proper
drainage of water
• Irrigate from day 1 to day 6 at intervals of 4 hr in every 24 hr
• Trials show that one tray can produce 22-30kg of fodder in 7 day cycle
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 The entire fodder biscuit is edible, roots and all.

Hydroponic fodder is deficient in calcium which require supplementation

Hydroponic fodder contains 80-85% water (15-20%DM), 13 - 13.6%CP

Digestibility of the fodder has been reported as 72.5% for CP, 65.4% for DM and 68.5% for OM

It should be used as a supplementary feed

An animal can eat up to 1 -1.5% of its body weight of hydroponic fodder a day
Cattle 300 - 400 kg live weight - feed 3- 5 kg/d hydroponic fodder
Goats/Sheep 25 - 40 kg live weight - feed 0.3 - 0.5 kg/d

Chicken live weight 1 -1.5 kg, -feed 0.15 - 0.2 kg/day

imals should not be fed this fodder in the morning, WHY?

as a supplement after they return from rangeland grazing
s require an adaptation period of 4-5 days before the consume the fodder easily
 Advantages of hydroponic fodder production

(i) Rational utilization of water.

•This is especially important in areas suffering from chronic water shortages

or in areas where irrigation infrastructure does not exist;

•When it comes to irrigation water utilization, hydroponic production is by far

more efficient than any other form of agriculture devoted to fodder
roduction.
(ii) Secure production.

• Open field production of fodder crops is often avoided due to security

reasons.

Fodder crops ready to be harvested are often victim of theft by other

farmers grazing their animals on them or are simply stolen.

Hydroponic production can be securely conducted in the backyard of a

farmer’s house.

addition, the hydroponic fodder production is done in semi controlled

nment making the crop safe from failure due to weather elements;
(iii) No need for ownership or leasing of land.

• In many instances small scale farmers do not poses or cannot access land
that is productive enough for feasible fodder production using classical
agricultural technologies.

• In areas dominated by pastoral livestock production, land is usually public

and land rights are not clear enough to assure the farmer clear possession

r right of use.

oponic fodder production eliminates the need for secure ownership of

r production;
(iv) Low fixed assets investment.
• Classical agricultural production requires substantial investment in agricultural
machinery, equipment and infrastructure including: machinery and equipment for
land preparation, crop production, harvesting, post harvest handling and
transportation.

Hydroponic production requires substantially less investment in fixed assets and

their maintenance.

he equipment and the facilities needed can be manufactured locally from local

rials and require minimal maintenance when compared to the machinery,

ent and facilities needed for classical fodder production
• While classical fodder production requires constant operational
expenditures (mechanization maintenance, fuel, lubricants, fertilizers,
crop protection products), hydroponic fodder production utilizes only seed
and water as production inputs;
(vi) Low labor requirements.

• While classical fodder production requires either qualified labor to operate

machinery or high level of human labor with appropriate stamina,
hydroponic production requires modest labor.

• All work in a hydroponic production can be performed by unskilled labor,

elderly or even partially disabled individuals;
(vii) On-demand production.

While in classical agriculture the production cycles of the crops (annual and
perennial) are long and production lasts several months, in hydroponic
fodder production the production cycle is as short as 7-9 days.

This makes the planning of the production very efficient since the farmer
n react to the supplement fodder needs swiftly.
Fig 1: Green fodder yield of cereals in different treatment
comb^ ]
Table 1: Nutrient Composition of Sprouted Hydroponic Barley
Fodder fed to Kuroiler chickens and Original Grain

Nutrient Barley Grain Hydroponic Barley Fodder

Mean ± SEM (G/100g) (4-Day Sprouts)
Mean ± SEM (G/100g)

Crude Protein 6.85 ±0.0172a 23.45 ±0.0106b

Moisture Content 11.38 ±0.0249c 80.58 ±0.2102d

Ash 0.58 ±0.00784e 2.12 ±0.0179f

Crude Fat 0.02 ±0.0016® 1.10 ±0.032h

Carbohydrate 79.98 ±0.148i 14.95 ± 0.0266

ietary Fiber 3.04 ± 0.0171k 6.11 ±0.0238l

Figure 2: The re|P* „ of
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HBF inclusion level (HI

Table 2. Chemical composition of experimental diets (Finger millet,
Hydroponic maize fodder, Hydroponic barley fodder) (% DM basis)
fed to goats

Experimental feeds
FMS HMF HBF

Variables
Dry Matter (DM) 92.45 18.48 14.2

Crude protein (CP) 4.22 16.5 14.44

Ether extract (EE) 1.92 4.67 5.67

Crude fibre (CF) 27.41 12.46 13.5

Nitrogen free extract (NFE) 53.77 68.47 64.66

Total ash (TA) 5.8 2.3 3.4

Acid insoluble ash (AIA) 1.6 0.32 0.64

Calcium (Ca) 0.82 0.72 0.68

Phosphorus(P) 0.33 0.64 0.46

Table 3: Growth performance of goats supplemented with hydroponic
Table 4: Chemical composition of HB and grain (DM% basis)

Items Grain barley Sprouted barley

Dry matter
90.40±2.44a 14.61±0.43b

Moisture 9.20±0.45b 82.74±0.54a

Ash
3.10±0.32 4.15± 0.85
92.60±0.12 93.25±0.15
Organic matter
1.90±1.28b 3.25±1.34a
Ether extract
Crude protein 9.45±0.32b 15.58±0.18a
Non protein 2.35±1.21b 4.80±1.84a

Nitrogen true protein 5.10±0.49b 7.55±0.76a

Neutral detergent fiber 32.50±1.20b 36.35±0.33a

detergent fiber
7.90±0.35 8.45±0.28

carbohydrate
56.55±1.456a 51.63±0.34b
Table 5: Effect of substitution barley by 10 and 30% sprouted barley in
the diewWBtaroodyweight and gainofAwassimalelamB^^^^^B

IParameter Group (10%) Group (30%) Control

group

Initial average weight 20.75±0.13 20.66±0.31 20.58±0.2

1

28.66±0.2
Final average weight 31.83±0.43b 36.68±0.11a
5c

8.08
Total body gain (kg) 11.08 16.02

67

Average daily gain (g) 92 133

conversation efficiency from whole diet (kg) 5.6 4.29 7.30