Carrington Research Fishing For New Uses Of Soybean and Field Pea Meal

Soybeans and field pea are well-known livestock feeds in this region. But what if the livestock are yellow perch?

Paul Jarvis, an aquaculture researcher at the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center, is feeding soybean and field pea meal to yellow perch to see if those feeds can be used instead of more-expensive fish meal. "There just aren’t as many yellow perch, especially in the Great Lakes area, as there used to be," says Jarvis. "Meanwhile the demand for yellow perch continues to grow."

Jarvis plans to feed 3 different diets of soybean meal and 3 different diets of field pea meal to the perch for a six month period. At that time the fish will be weighed, counted, measured and other data collected to determine which diets gave the best growth.

Fish meal, usually made out of herring, is becoming more expensive and in short supply. "I’ve spoken with nutritionists and they feel that we’ll get to a point where we have to replace all of the fish meal because it won’t be available or it will be so expensive we won’t be able to use it," says Jarvis. "It probably won’t be any one product like soybean or field pea meal that will replace fish meal but a combination of several to help balance out the nutrients. It will help crop producers because they will suddenly have a tremendous new market for their products."

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts that the demand for aquaculture is going to continue to increase and many new fish farms will be needed to supply the demand.

Jarvis notes that the technology for raising yellow perch is new and most research has been conducted using ponds. The Carrington research uses indoor tanks. "In ponds it takes about 2 to 3 years to get yellow perch to market size. If you raise them indoors in a recirculating system it can take less than a year and a half," says Jarvis. "Using indoor tanks we can provide optimum water conditions, feed them as much as they can eat and provide a constant water temperature."

Another advantage to raising fish is the conversion of feed to weight gain. Fish can convert one pound of feed to nearly one pound of weight gain says Jarvis. Currently those raising yellow perch receive from 7 to 10 dollars a pound. The average production cost is approximately $2.30 per pound. On the retail market, yellow perch sells from 10 to 15 dollars a pound depending upon availability and the time of year.

Other fish species such as bluegill and bluegill/green sunfish are also being studied at the Carrington Research Extension Center. "Our studies look at marketability of the species, cost of production, net return, ease of culture and availability of seed stock," says Jarvis. "We also want to find species that can be fed a diet composed of locally grown crops."

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Source: Paul Jarvis (701) 652-2951, pjarvis@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern (701) 231-6136, Richard_Mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu