All this time fish waste was only to end up in the trash and has not been used optimally. But in the hands of a number of students of UGM Faculty of Agriculture Department of Fisheries, fish waste that was considered to have no benefit is transformed into a beneficial product and has added value.
They are Cahya Adi, Dimas Yuniardi, Hario Premono, Meezan Ardhanu, and Vikky Putri Purdiantari. All five of them processed fish waste into protein rich poultry feed. The products labeled as C & D (Chicken and Duck) cereals also made them to win the E (x) posed National Business Plan Competition 2011 Management event.
The competition was held from 27 to 28 November 2001 in Jakarta. In this competition UGM team became the first winner eliminating nine other finalists in the finals. In the earlier selection process, this UGM team had to compete with about 98 other teams from several universities in Indonesia.
"This product according to jury is a huge innovation to the animal feed industry because it utilizes fish waste as poultry feed. Up to this time, poultry feed was only made from corn and bran," said Hario Permono, Tuesday (13/12) on UGM Campus.
Hario mentioned this C & D cereals product is different from other poultry feed products in general. This product has quite high protein content, about 16-34 percent. While other products are usually made from corn or rice bran which only contains carbohydrates.
To produce C & D cereals, fish waste is processed firstly by acidification process. Fish waste that was obtained from the coast of Gunung Kidul is chemically fermented for approximately eight days after the addition of media for bacterial growth/molasses as much as 3-4 percent and lactic acid bacteria. The fermentation results in the form of silage, mixed with other additives such as bran. The results of both materials mixture are processed into flour that is ready to be used as poultry feed.
“The proportional composition of silage and additives is 1:2," he explained.
Hario revealed that of 10 Kg of fish waste that has been given the molasses addition about 3 ounces or 3 percent of the total ingredients will be obtained. "Usually of 10 kilograms, after it is fermented, about 3 ounces of silage will be obtained," says Hario.
According to Hario, the product is also inexpensive. One kilogram is sold for Rp5500 whilst other poultry feeds are sold with a price range between 7-8 thousand rupiah per kilogram.
Meanwhile, Cahya Adi said they make the processed poultry feed in three variants: Starter for young birds, Growers for poultry in its infancy, Finisher for adult and parent poultry. "Each of these variants is different. The difference is in its silage content. The starter for example has more silage, grower has more silage than finisher," explained Adi Cahya.
Cahya Adi described this product is easy to develop. However, up to this time the feed poultry has not sold in large quantities. Currently they are concentrating to conduct product tests on poultry to determine the effectiveness of the feed on the growth of poultry.