U.S. Grains Council (USGC) staff and consultants recently crisscrossed Vietnam’s famous Mekong River Delta to begin a historic undertaking for distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), launching two independent aqua feeding DDGS trials in March.
The impetus for the program came from news that Peruvian fishmeal, Vietnam’s accustomed source of protein for aquaculture, may not be available until May 2015 due to concerns about supply. Between this announcement and climbing fishmeal prices in the past decade, the product is now more than $2,400 per ton – offering an opportunity to introduce DDGS as a protein source to the pangasius (a medium to large shark catfish) industry in Vietnam.
Many Vietnamese fish feeders are reluctant to feed DDGS to catfish because they are afraid that xanthophyll, a yellow or brown plant pigment, will turn their fish filets yellow. To overcome this challenge, the Council began a feeding trial with two private sector companies feeding out fingerling pangasius with a variety of DDGS inclusion rates to study feed conversion ratio and color of final filets.
“The goal of this project is to show the industry you can feasibly utilize plant-based proteins, both DDGS and soybean meal, as combined sources of protein in fish diets,� said Kevin Roepke, USGC regional director of South and Southeast Asia. “The two ingredients complement each other very well and can at least partially replace expensive fishmeal.
“We’re conducting the tests in ponds using 5, 10 and 15 percent inclusions along with a control diet. All of the diets containing DDGS are cheaper than the control.�
Roepke intends for this study to be a starting point to introduce Vietnamese catfish producers to corn and DDGS as an energy source as well. Cassava meal is the traditional energy source in Vietnam, but Council work has indicated low inclusion rates of DDGS and corn won’t materially affect fillet color and will provide an alternative to fishmeal and cassava.
This replicates a preliminary study the Council did almost 10 years ago in Vietnam on a pilot scale.
“These studies are being done on a commercial scale, simulating real world conditions,� Roepke said. “Once the fish producers realize DDGS can save them money in their formulations without sacrificing quality, increasing the inclusion rates of DDGS and corn will quickly follow.�