• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 1986

The distribution of giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrrhiza) and small duckweed (Lemna aequinoctialis) was investigated at lead-zinc mine area and the limiting factors for their distribution were studied by laboratory experiments. The metal investigated of water affected on the growth of giant duckweed and small duckweed. Under filed conditions, both giant duckweed and small duckweed did not persist at more acidic conditions than pH 4.8 or at conditions more than 0.30 ppm of Cd concentration. Giant duckweeds were intolerable, under conditiions with less than 0.30 ppm of Cd and above than 0.07ppm of Zn, but small duckweeds were tolerable under conditions of more than 0.07 ppm of Zn concentration. However, neither can live above 7.50ppm of Zn concentration. These field observations corresponded with the results of the laboratory experiments.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.507-514
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• 2001

Two experiments were carried out to investigate whether duckweed is useful as a dietary protein source for fine-wool Merino sheep and to evaluate its effects on wool yield and characteristics. In Experiment 1, the sheep were given one of three maintenance diets consisting of oaten chaff (520-700 g/d) supplemented with 16-32 g crude protein/d in the form of fresh (1 kg/d) or sun-dried (50-100 g/d) duckweed. Each ration was estimated to provide 5.4 MJ (1.3 Mcal)/d of metabolisable energy (ME). The sheep readily ingested the fresh or dried duckweed. None of the wool measures (yield, rate of fibre elongation, fibre diameter) differed (p>0.05) between dietary treatments. In Experiment 2, oaten-chaff-based diets (800 g/d) supplying 6.5-7.2 MJ (1.6-1.7 Mcal)/d of ME were supplemented with iso-nitrogenous amounts (4-5 g N) either of urea (8 g), cottonseed meal (60 g) or dried duckweed (100 g). In this experiment, the rate of wool fibre elongation, thought to be related to intestinal amino acid absorption, was lower (p<0.05) for sheep given the oaten chaff/urea diet than for those given either oaten chaff/cottonseed meal or oaten chaff/duckweed for which the rates did not differ (p>0.05). Fibre diameter, which ranged from 16.0-16.7 mm, did not differ (p>0.05) between diets, but tended to be lower on the oaten chaff/urea diet so that volume of wool produced was also significantly lower (p<0.05) on this diet than on the diets containing duckweed or cottonseed meal. Rumen ammonia concentrations at 4.5 and 7.5 h after feeding were higher (p<0.05) for sheep given the oaten chaff/urea diet than for those given the other two diets. A comparison of the rumen ammonia concentrations, wool growth rate and predicted flows of amino acids from the rumen of sheep supplemented with duckweed rather than cottonseed meal suggested that duckweed is a valuable source of 'escape protein' for ruminants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.1741-1746
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• 2001

An experiment was conducted at the experimental duck farm of Cantho University to determine the effects of feeding duckweed (Lemna minor) that completely replaced commercial protein supplements in diets for crossbred meat ducks. The experiment included five treatments, with four replicates and ten crossbred ducks per replicate (pen). The five diets were based on broken rice offered ad libitum, supplemented with either 27 (control, SB100), 19 (SB70), 15 (SB55), 12 (SB40) or zero (SB0) g/day of ground, roasted soya beans, with fresh duckweed supplied ad libitum, except for the control (SB0) treatment. A vitamin / mineral premix and salt were included in the control (SB100) diet, but not in the diets with duckweed. These diets were fed to growing crossbred meat ducks (Czechoslovak Cherry Valley hybrids) from 28 to 63 days of age, when two birds (one male and one female) per pen were slaughtered for carcass evaluation. Total daily intakes were 95, 108, 108, 105 and 107 g of dry matter (DM) (p<0.001) and daily live weight gains 26.1, 29.1, 28.3, 27.1 and 27.6 g (p<0.001) for the SB100, SB70, SB55, SB40 and SB0 diets, respectively. Corresponding feed conversion ratios (FCR, dry matter basis) were 3.63, 3.71, 3.82, 3.89 and 3.88 kg feed/kg gain, respectively. There were no significant differences in carcass yields, chest and thigh muscle weights, and internal organ weights between the ducks fed the control diet and those fed duckweed diets. Fresh duckweed can completely replace roasted soya beans and a vitamin-mineral premix in broken rice based diets for growing crossbred ducks without reduction in growth performance or carcass traits. If the duckweed is grown on farm, and managed and harvested by household labour, the saving over purchased protein supplements is up to 48%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1168-1176
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• 2004

Intensive animal industries create large volumes of nutrient rich effluent, which, if untreated, has the potential for substantial environmental degradation. Aquatic plants in aerobic lagoon systems have the potential to achieve inexpensive and efficient remediation of effluent, and to recover valuable nutrients that would otherwise be lost. Members of the family Lemnaceae (duckweeds) are widely used in lagoon systems, but despite their widespread use in the cleansing of sewage, only limited research has been conducted into their growth in highly eutrophic media, and little has been done to systematically distinguish between different types of media. This study examined the growth characteristics of duckweed in abattoir effluent, and explored possible ways of ameliorating the inhibitory factors to growth on this medium. A series of pot trials was conducted to test the tolerance of duckweed to abattoir effluent partially remediated by a sojourn in anaerobic fermentation ponds, both in its unmodified form, and after the addition of acid to manipulate pH, and the addition of bentonite. Unmodified abattoir effluent was highly toxic to duckweed, although duckweed remained viable and grew sub optimally in media with total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations of up to 100 mg/l. Duckweed also grew vigorously in effluent diluted 1:4 v/v, containing 56 mg TAN/L and also modified by addition of acid to decrease pH to 7 and by adding bentonite (0.5%).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.137-145
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• 2004

Intensive animal industries create large volumes of nutrient rich effluent which, if untreated, has the potential for substantial environmental degradationand to recover valuable nutrients that would otherwise be lost. Members of the family Lemnaceae are widely used in lagoon systems, to achieve inexpensive and efficient remediation of effluent. Only limited research has been conducted into their growth in highly eutrophic media and there has been little done to systematically distinguish between different types of media. This study examined the growth characteristics of duckweed in abattoir effluent and explored possible ways of ameliorating the inhibitory factors to growth on this medium. A series of pot trials was conducted to test the tolerance of duckweed to abattoir effluent partially remediated by a sojourn in anaerobic fermentation ponds, both in its unmodified form and after the addition of acid to manipulate pH, and the addition of bentonite. Unmodified abattoir effluent was highly toxic to duckweed, even at dilutions of 3:1. Duckweed remained viable and grew sub-optimally in simplified media with total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations of up to 100 mg/L. Duckweed grew vigorously in effluent diluted 1:4 v/v, containing 56 mg TAN/L when modified by addition of acid (to decrease pH to 7) and bentonite at 0.5%. The results of this study suggest that bentonite plays an important role in modifying the toxicity of abattoir effluent to duckweed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1991-1999
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• 2021

The response changes of the specific growth rate of Lemna minor duckweed was modeled using the logarithms of frond numbers on tritium activity concentration and gamma radiation dose from cobalt 60. The concept of average specific growth rate depends on the general exponential growth pattern, where toxicity is estimated based on the effect on the growth rate. One of the main questions of the effect of the radiation dose on duckweed is how to correlate the effect of beta radiation with the effect of any other radiation for modeling radiation on Lemna minor. Experimental data were extrapolated by utilizing the OECD guidelines. A linear relationship of absorbed dose and activity concentration was obtained for the average dependency growth rate of Lemna minor as D = (0.1257)·A^0.585. The dose rate of gamma irradiation from ⁶⁰Co increases with tritium activity dependence, on the specific growth rate of the Lemna minor duckweed. An increase in the tritium activity causes a decrease in the specific growth rate of the Lemna minor duckweed. It indicates that as the quantity of the beta radiation dose increase in Lemna minor duckweed, a higher quantity of gamma radiation will be required to cause the same effect in the specific growth rate of Lemna minor duckweed. The relation between the inhibition of the Lemna minor seedling growth and gamma and beta radiation dosage agrees roughly with that between the decrease of survival rate or fertility and dosage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.686-693
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• 2000

Biomass yield, nutritive value and nutrient utilization efficiency of different genera of duckweed (DW, Lemnaceae) under the same nutritional and management conditions were studied. Three genera of DW namely: Lemna perpusilla, Spirodela polyrhiza and Woljfia arrhiza, were cultivated in 18 plastic sinks each of $59{\times}54{\times}35cm^3$ size. Each sink contained approximately 80 L of water and was charged once with 6.648 kg of anaerobically fermented cow dung effluent. The seed rate for Spirodela, Lemna and Wolffia were 600, 400 and $600g/m^2$ respectively. Duckweed were harvested at 48 hours intervals. Media total N concentration for Lemna and Wolffia gradually increased with time. Growth of duckweed was measured by subtracting the inoculum from the total biomass production. Growth of Spirodela ceased within 4 days but Lemna and Wolffia continue to grow up to 34 days. Bio-mass yield was significantly (p<0.05) higher in Wolffia (906 kg/ha/d) than Lemna (631 kg/ha/d). Dry matter (DM) yield was very similar in Lemna (14.80 kg/ha/d) and Wolffia (14.57 kg/ha/d). The N content was non-significant higher in Lemna (5.45%) than Wolffia (5.00%) and Spirodela (4.6%). The crude protein (CP, $N{\times}6.25$) yield was non-significantly higher in Lemna (4.83 kg/ha/d) than Wolffia (4.32 kg/ha/d). The acid detergent fibre (ADF) content was the highest in Wolffia (28.59%), followed by Spirodela (19.47%) and Lemna (12.39%). Utilization efficiency of CP was 273 and 314% respectively for Wolffia and Lemna. However, similar efficiency values for Spirodela was only 1.5%. Considering the bio-mass yield, nutritive value and nutrient utilization efficiency, production performance of DW were in the order of Lemna>Wolffia>Spirodela under the present experimental conditions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.297-305
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• 2003

The family of lemnacae colloquially known as duckweed contains the world' smallest species of flowering plants (macrophytes). Aquatic and free-floating, their most striking qualities are a capacity for explosive reproduction and an almost complete lack of fibrous material. They are widely used for reducing chemical loading in facultative sewage lagoons, but their greatest potential lies in their ability to produce large quantities of protein rich biomass, suitable for feeding to a wide range of animals, including fish, poultry and cattle. Despite these qualities there are numerous impediments to these plants being incorporated into western farming systems. Large genetically determined variations in growth in response to nutrients and climate, apparent anti-nutritional factors, concerns about sequestration of heavy metals and possible transference of pathogens raise questions about the safety and usefulness of these plants. A clear understanding of how to address and overcome these impediments needs to be developed before duckweed is widely accepted for nutrient reclamation and as a source of animal feed.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.425-439
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• 2018

W investigated the environmental factors and inhabiting biota such as macrophytes and zooplankton in 43 sites located on Jeju Island from May and June 2017 to evaluate the spread and ecosystem risk of dotted duckweed (landoltia punctata) which was recently found for the first time in Jeju Island. Dotted duckweeds were found in a total of 18 sites which tended to show low biomass of aquatic macrophyte species other than the dotted duckweed. We conducted a pattern analysis using SOM (Self-Organizing Map), which extracts information through competitive and adaptive properties, to analyze the effect of inhabiting biota on aquatic macrophytes such as the dotted duckweed and environmental factors. The SOM analysis showed that the inhabiting biota such as the zooplankton affected the biomass of aquatic macrophytes than they did the environmental factors. In particular, the biomass of dotted duckweed was positively related to plant-attached species (Alona, Chydorus, and Pleuroxus). Considering that low density of aquatic macrophytes covers the streams and wetlands on Jeju Island because of irregular water source and sharp change of water depth, the dotted duckweeds are likely to play an essential role as the vital habitat for micro-biota including zooplankton in wetlands and streams on Jeju Island. Furthermore, considering that organic matters are utilized as the primary food source in the areas occupied by dotted duckweed, dotted duckweeds have the role of being both habitat and food source. Although the dense growth of dotted duckweed adversely affects growth and development of some aquatic plants due to the shadow effect, it is due to the dominance of floating plants on the water surface should not be regarded as the risk of the dotted duckweed. In conclusion, the dotted duckweeds have spread and settled in most of the water systems on Jeju Island, their impact on inhabiting biota and the aquatic environment was minor. It is necessary to monitor the distribution and spread of dotted duckweeds in the inland areas outside of Jeju Island in the future.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.537-542
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• 2002

A study was conducted to evaluate the nutritive potential value of different aquatic plants: duckweed (Lemna trisulaca), duckweed (Lemna perpusila), azolla (Azolla pinnata) and water-hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) from Bangladesh. A wide variability in protein, mineral composition, gas production, microbial protein synthesis, rumen degradable nitrogen and in situ dry matter and crude protein degradability were recorded among species. Crude protein content ranged from 139 to 330 g/kg dry matter (DM). All species were relatively high in Ca, P, Na, content and very rich in K, Fe, Mg, Mn, Cu and Zn concentration. The rate of gas production was highest in azolla and lowest in water-hyacinth. A similar trend was observed with in situ DM degradability. Crude protein degradability was highest in duckweed. Microbial protein formation at 24 h incubation ranged from 38.6-47.2 mg and in vitro rumen degradable nitrogen between 31.5 and 48.4%. Based on the present findings it is concluded that aquatic species have potential as supplementary diet to livestock.