What is Hydroponic Fodder
Hydroponic fodder is a cultivation of nutritious green fodder (grass) in water medium with added nutrients in it.
Basically seeds like Barley, Maize, Wheat, Jowar, Bajra are sprouted into high quality green fodder within a period of 7-9 days in a specific given condition.
In this system nutrients are directly supplied to the roots of the plants in a specific condition of water, which helps plants to absorb nutrients with less efforts
Growth is faster as compared with other fodder grown in soil medium. Normally fodder grows in 7-8 day stage is loaded with nutrition and enzymes.
1kg seeds gives a yield of approximately 7-9 kg fresh green fodder which is rich in amino acid, fatty acid, and fibres
Sprouting helps in breakdown of complex biochemicals and propels metabolic activity in seeds. Enzymes get activated causing incremental growth in nutritional values .
Digestibility of seeds and legumes is increased due to sprouting. Normally digestibility of fodder is increased by 20% to 95% depends upon the type and quality of seed.
Increase in digestibility of this fodder is due to the important role played by ENZYMES in it. Basically Enzymes are in inactive stage in seed when they are in dry form, but when they are hydrated by water or by any other liquid, inactive enzymes in grain gets activated and the whole process of energy transformation takes place
The main constituents of food like Protein, Fats, Carbohydrates and Starch from seed, which is not available initially (only 10-25% used) in a dry stage gets available almost 70-90% after sprouting it in a correct form(palatable) to your animals
When seed is sprouted in hydroponic fodder system, Enzymes breakdown the complex structure into simple form
- Starch which is basically difficult to digest by animals gets converted into Simple Sugar & Soluble Carbohydrates after sprouting.
- Crude protein or Complex Protein in a seed after sprouting gets converted into soluble Protein/ Amino acid which is easily Digest by mono-gastric or ruminant animals. Hence this is the reason whyWeight in animals is Increased
- Fats in seed is normally in a non available form (non digestive form) in dry stage gets transformed into Essential fatty acid (almost 60-90%) which can be easily available to animals during digestion
Hence this is the reason why Milk is increased in Goat, Cattles, Sheep’s by 10 to 20 %
Most important about this fodder is that since it is a Sprouted Fodder, its PH is almost 7 or above 7(depends on nature of seed) therefore it becomes ALKALINE in nature.
Alkaline fodder is actually a healthy food, because it Neutralizes the Acidic waste and gases from the body.With this alkaline food, they actually produce hydrochloric acid in stomach which helps in digestion.
Low intake of alkaline fodder, shifts the body in acidic state. In this state it cannot absorb selective nutrients and oxygen & also cannot expel toxins from body.
Hydroponic fodder will play a very crucial role in Animal Husbandry sector in the future.
By- ASHWIN R SAWANT
Important Links:
Click Here to Read : What is Hydroponic Technology
Click Here to Watch :Importance of Hydroponic Nutrients
Click Here to Watch:Basics and Need of Hydroponic Fodder
