Duckweed is a free-floating green plant. It is also known as water lentil. Although it is a very small plant it is full of many nutrients like protein, vitamins, and carbs. There are about 30 types of duckweed. Some duckweeds are very high in protein like Lemna minor, and Wolffia. The best thing about duckweed is that it doubles its mass within 24 to 48 hours. These are some basic things about duckweed.
Now we will discuss why duckweed is superfood.
Properties of duckweed, like its fast growth and high protein, force us to think about it. I think duckweed can give an extra income source to many farmers. Now I am going to explain different ways by which duckweed can help farmers and give many job opportunities.
- Duckweed as Protein Powder
There is a huge demand for protein in our country. About 80% people of in our country are suffering from protein deficiency. To fulfill this requirement duckweed can play a major role. Some species of duckweed are very high in protein like lemna minor and wolffia. About 30 to 40 percent of its dry weight is protein. If we adopt the right technology to cultivate it we can get a huge amount of duckweed protein. Duckweed can grow in a two to three-inch-thick water layer. We can make multilayer hydroponic type layers to grow duckweeds.
2. Duckweed as fertilizer
Duckweed has many nutrients and can be use as fertilizer in crop fields. The demand of biofertilizer is increasing day by day. The fast growth and high nutrition of duckweed can produce huge amount of fertilizer. Farmers can convert duckweed into fertilizer for their fields and they can sell also.
3. Duckweed as animal feed
As we know that duckweed has huge amount of easily digestible protein so it can be use as animal feed. The Indian animal feed market size reached a value of almost INR 403.5 billion in the year 2020. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% between 2021 and 2026 to reach a value of almost INR 933.3 billion by 2026. Animal feed needs protein content so duckweed can fulfil it. Farmers can grow duckweed and sell them as protein feed.
4. Duckweed as biofuel
Duckweed can be use as ethanol production. There are some duckweed species that are very high in starch. We all know that the demand of fuel is endless. We can grow as much as duckweed for ethanol production.
This much advantages shows that duckweed is a superfood.