RESEARCH ON EDIBLE SEAWEED

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/health-benefits-seaweed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-3007359/First-wheatgrass-kale-s-KELP-seaweed-superfood-table.html

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/240750337_A_survey_of_iodine_content_in_Laminaria_digitata

SEAWEED AS ANIMAL FEED

All Emerald Isle Seaweed has be tested for chemical, pesticides and water quality.

Research studies had been performed investigating the effect of using seaweed or macroalgae (even algae co-products) – as a part of the ruminant animal diets – on the animals production performance and health .The main feed market areas were microalgae may have a valuable application are summarized below:

For a long time, animals such as sheep, cattle and horses that lived in coastal areas have eaten seaweed,especially in those European countries where large brown seaweeds were washed ashore. Today the availability of seaweed for animals has been increased with the production of seaweed meal: dried seaweed that has been milled to a fine powder. Norway was among the early producers of seaweed meal,using Ascophyllum nodosum, a seaweed that grows in the eulittoral zone so that it can be cut and collected when exposed at low tide . 

France has used Laminaria digitata, Iceland both Ascophyllum and Laminaria species, and the United Kingdom, Ascophyllum Because Ascophyllum is so accessible, it is the main raw material for seaweed meal and most experimental work to measure the effectiveness of seaweed meal has been done on this seaweed. The seaweed used for meal must be freshly cut, as drift seaweed is low in minerals and usually becomes infected with mould. The wet seaweed is passed through hammer mills with progressively smaller screens to reduce it to fine particles. These are passed through a drum dryer starting at 700-800°C and exiting at no more than 70°C. It should have a moisture level of about 15 percent. It is milled and stored in sealed bags because it picks up moisture if exposed to air. It can be stored for about a year. 

Analysis shows that it contains useful amounts of minerals (potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium,sodium, chlorine and sulphur), trace elements and vitamins. Trace elements are essential elements needed by humans and other mammals in smaller quantities than iron (approximately 50 mg/kg body weight), and include zinc, cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, nickel, tin, vanadium, fluorine and iodine. Because most often carbohydrates and proteins are not digestible, the nutritional value of seaweed has traditionally been assumed to be in its contribution of minerals, trace elements and vitamins to the diet of animals. In Norway, it has been assessed as having only 30 percent of the feeding value of grains.

 Ascophyllum meal. It is this lack of protein digestibility that is a distinct drawback to Ascophyllum meal providing a useful energy content. In preparing compound feedstuffs, farmers may be less concerned about the price per kilogram of an additive; the decisive factor is more likely to be the digestibility and nutritive value of the additive. In feeding trials with poultry, adding Ascophyllum meal had no benefit except to increase the iodine content of the eggs. With pigs, addition of 3 percent Ascophyllum meal had no effect on the meat yield.However, there have been some positive results reported with cattle and sheep. An experiment for 7 years with dairy cows (seven pairs of identical twins) showed an average increase in milk production of 6.8 per cent that lead to 13 percent more income.

A trial involving two groups each of 900 ewes showed that those fed seaweed meal over a two-year period maintained their weight much better during winter feeding and also gave greater wool production.