SBIR Phase I: Optimizing effluent uptake and bioactive stability of Asparagopsis taxiformis as a methane-reducing livestock feed additive

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响是改善反刍动物甲烷减少海藻饲料添加剂的生长和加工参数（即，牛）。在全球范围内，牲畜甲烷排放量占全球温室气体排放总量的10%。 最近的饲料试验已经确定，一种特殊的红色热带海藻可以帮助减少反刍动物产生的甲烷量超过98%。拟议的项目将通过探索三种用于陆地养殖系统中自然光照优化的新型解决方案，将水产养殖废水（AWW）作为循环营养流进行分析和整合，并部署一种替代处理方法来大规模地将其作为饲料添加剂。这些生长过程可能会被应用到藻类生产的其他用途，如食品，而干燥的创新预计将广泛适用于热带气候。拟议SBIR第一阶段项目将建立在工作中种植夏威夷芦笋taxiformis在陆基系统和优化的产量和所需代谢物的浓度。太阳位置和辐照度的日变化，沿着藻类自身遮蔽造成的遮挡，导致光合效率低下。 AWW含有大量的废弃氮和磷;只有20-30%的鱼饲料中的氮保留在鱼的生物量中。AWW的整合将回收其中一些营养物质并避免污染的下游后果，例如富营养化。虽然干燥材料对于生产货架稳定的产品很重要，但现有技术要么是能源密集型的，要么在将关键化合物保留在海藻组织中方面表现不佳。该项目将测试针对这一困境提出的解决方案，以及污染和菌株的发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve the growth and processing parameters of a methane-reducing seaweed feed additive for ruminant livestock (i.e,. cattle). Globally, livestock methane emissions contribute up to 10% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Recent feed trials have determined that a special red tropical seaweed can help reduce the amount of methane produced by ruminants by over 98%. The proposed project will advance this as a feed additive at scale by exploring three novel solutions for natural lighting optimization in land-based cultivation systems, profiling and integrating aquaculture wastewater (AWW) as a circular nutrient stream, and deploying an alternative processing method to the energy-intensive industry standard. These growth processes can likely be applied to algae production for other uses, such as food, while drying innovations are expected to be broadly applicable in tropical climates.The proposed SBIR Phase I project will build on work to grow Hawaiian Asparagopsis taxiformis in land-based systems and optimize for both yield and concentration of desired metabolites. Diurnal changes in solar position and irradiance, along with occlusion caused by algae self-shading, result in photosynthetic inefficiencies. AWW contains large amounts of waste nitrogen and phosphorus; only 20-30% of nitrogen from the fish feed is retained in fish biomass. The integration of AWW will recover some of these nutrients and avoid downstream consequences of pollution, such as eutrophication. While drying material is important for the production of a shelf-stable product, existing technologies are either energy-intensive or perform poorly at retaining critical compounds in seaweed tissue. The project will test proposed solutions to this quandary, as well as contamination and strain development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.