Nutritional Freshwater Life
6
protein isolates. Hence, leaf protein
from aquatic plants is of sufficiently
high amino acid quality to be useful as
a dietary supplement. As the nutritive
value of aquatic plants often contains
“as much or more crude protein, crude
fat, and mineral matter, than many conventional forage crops,” such plants
could be used as food and temporarily
help alleviate food shortages until lasting agricultural and social solutions are
found (Boyd, 1968a, 1968b).
In order to alleviate the problems
relating to malnutrition among the
people of developing and underdeveloped countries, there is an urgent need
to identify new species rich in nutrients. In this regard, assessment of the
nutritional quality of freshwater flora
and fauna of edible value would be of
great use to add new and cheap sources
of animal proteins. Further, by applying the knowledge of nutritional status, one can select the needed species
to harvest. This may help conserve the
freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity, which is presently an urgent
need (Virginia Tech, 2009). In the present report, an attempt has been made
to present detailed information on the
nutritional facts of different groups
of freshwater life. All table information relates to mean values of fresh
weight (FW) (wet weight (WW)) or dry
matter (DM) (dry weight (DW)) adult
specimens.
6
protein isolates. Hence, leaf protein
from aquatic plants is of sufficiently
high amino acid quality to be useful as
a dietary supplement. As the nutritive
value of aquatic plants often contains
“as much or more crude protein, crude
fat, and mineral matter, than many conventional forage crops,” such plants
could be used as food and temporarily
help alleviate food shortages until lasting agricultural and social solutions are
found (Boyd, 1968a, 1968b).
In order to alleviate the problems
relating to malnutrition among the
people of developing and underdeveloped countries, there is an urgent need
to identify new species rich in nutrients. In this regard, assessment of the
nutritional quality of freshwater flora
and fauna of edible value would be of
great use to add new and cheap sources
of animal proteins. Further, by applying the knowledge of nutritional status, one can select the needed species
to harvest. This may help conserve the
freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity, which is presently an urgent
need (Virginia Tech, 2009). In the present report, an attempt has been made
to present detailed information on the
nutritional facts of different groups
of freshwater life. All table information relates to mean values of fresh
weight (FW) (wet weight (WW)) or dry
matter (DM) (dry weight (DW)) adult
specimens.