Since April of this year, Japan has been experimenting with U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as a feed ingredient for rainbow trout at a commercial aquaculture farm in the Aichi Prefecture. The trials are being conducted in response to the rising cost of fish meal, a high demand ingredient throughout Asia and a product that is currently in limited supply.

The U.S. Grains Council recently had the opportunity to observe the feeding trial during a visit to Japan last month. Council representatives toured the Ure fish farm of the Aichi Trout Farmers Cooperative Association where the USGC-led DDGS feeding trials are underway.

According to Hiroko Sakashita, USGC associate director in Tokyo, preliminary results suggest no positive or negative influence when compared to rations using fish meal and soybean meal minus DDGS. The trials are using high-protein DDGS with about 20 percent of the total feed partially replacing fish meal and soybean meal. The experiment will continue throughout the summer and the findings will be presented in September.

Mr. Akihiko Kobori, chairman of Japan Trout Farmers Association, told the visiting Council delegation that the association first tried to reduce the inclusion ratio of fish meal by replacing it with grain-derived meal.

“A decade ago we succeeded in reducing fish meal by 10 percent of the total feed by replacing it with corn gluten meal and soybean meal,� he said. “Five years ago, we heard about DDGS as a new high-protein feed ingredient and researched how to use it in aquaculture through the Council’s help.�

It was last year that the association decided to conduct Japan’s first DDGS feeding trial in rainbow trout as part of the industry’s intent to find a reasonably priced, high-quality feed ingredient.

While the DDGS market for the rainbow trout in Japan will not be as large as markets of other animal sectors, the basic findings of this trial will have a great impact on the larger sea food market as a whole, Sakashita noted. Additionally, since Japan’s livestock industry also uses fish meal in compound feed for layers, broilers and swine, the trial’s findings will be reviewed closely by Japan’s livestock sector in light of expectations that fish meal will continue to be expensive and in tight supply in the future.

Written by Jodi Kiely, USGC Contributing Writer