Title: Potential used of duckweed as an alternative protein source for human and animal nutrition

Biography:

Yusuf Leonard Henuk is a Professor in the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture at University of Sumatera Utara (USU), Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia. He was a prolific writer and has published many articles in international journal and mainly poultry science, e.g. World's Poultry Science Journal as well as international scientific meetings as such as 1st International Conference on Native Chicken.

Abstract

The increasing world’s population and accompanying total food consumption raises the worldwide demand for agricultural produces. This raising demand implies a further increase of pressure on current land usage. It becomes more and more important to search for sustainable alternatives of natural resources. Duckweed has attracted attention because it (1) contains high amounts of high quality protein when grown under optimal conditions, ranging from 35 to 43% in dry matter (considering a water content of  92 to 94% in fresh duckweed); (2) contains protein with a better composition of essential amino acids, thus covering nutritional requirements to a larger extent than many other plant proteins; (3) has a high growth rate and can tolerate extreme circumstances; (4) can be cultivated in a basin on non-arable land, thereby avoiding the use of farming land. Human consumption of duckweed is common in some parts of Southeast Asia, including Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, as a vegetable named ‘Khai-Nam’. Wolffia arrhiza and Wolffia globosa are the dominating species used for human consumption. Despite the great potential of duckweed as a source of plant protein in human nutrition, it is not part of the diet in Western countries. Duckweed has been known for a long period of time as a potential source of food for humans and animals and as a source of natural products it is the only source of supplementary protein for fish, chickens ducks and pigs. Horses or ruminants could be fed on freshly harvested duckweed.  It can be concluded  that duckweed   as an alternative crop for the future as an alternative  protein source for human and animal nutrition.