Enhancing Sorghum Opportunities in Domestic and Export Aquafeed Sectors in Hybrid Striped Bass
Research
Project Summary:
November 3, 2023
Project: Enhancing Sorghum Opportunities in Domestic and Export Aquafeed Sectors in Hybrid striped bass
This project investigated the potential of sorghum as an alternative carbohydrate in hybrid striped bass (HSB) diets. The research focused on three main objectives:
- Digestibility Coefficients in Hybrid striped bass: Digestibility trials measured how well HSB digested nutrients from different sorghum varieties. Red sorghum again showed promising results, with digestibility coefficients comparable to the other varieties for most nutrients.
- Conduct baseline and optimizing nutrition trials: HSB were fed diets containing varying levels of sorghum (0%, 5%, 10%, and 20%) alongside a control diet. While fish fed the control diet grew slightly faster, sorghum inclusion levels up to 10% appeared to have no negative effects on growth performance.
- Economic Analysis: Based on conservative estimates, incorporating 10% sorghum in HSB diets could create demand for 1,911 tonnes of sorghum annually in the domestic market and 105,600 tonnes globally.
Special Note: Previously funded rainbow trout research developed proximate analyses for the sorghum used in this HSB project.
Key Findings
- Hybrid striped bass can digest nutrients from sorghum efficiently.
- Replacing up to 10% of dietary carbohydrates with sorghum appears to be feasible for hybrid striped bass production.
- Including sorghum in aquafeed could create a new market for sorghum producers, particularly those focused on non-GMO grains.
