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Algae Protein…New Source to Feed Animals

Workers clear algae along the coast in Qingdao, Shandong province, China June 12, 2021. Picture taken June 12, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS
Workers clear algae along the coast in Qingdao, Shandong province, China June 12, 2021. Picture taken June 12, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS
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Algae Protein…New Source to Feed Animals

Workers clear algae along the coast in Qingdao, Shandong province, China June 12, 2021. Picture taken June 12, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS
Workers clear algae along the coast in Qingdao, Shandong province, China June 12, 2021. Picture taken June 12, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS

Animal feed is vital for the global food security, but it deeply affects the environment given the amount of greenhouse emissions emitted during its production and processing. Yet, new innovations and techniques could help provide sustainable and clean solutions in this field.

New feed source

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has collaborated with the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture (MEWA) to produce a new source of animal feed in the KSA.

The new project, which aligns with Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative's focus on food security, aims at developing new techniques to produce the highest quality of algae protein used as feed for animals such as fish and poultry. The project supports producing local raw material for animal feed and reduces the reliance on imported raw materials. This could help establish a sustainable animal feed industry in Saudi Arabia.

“The microalgae project aligns with the kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, and will bring environmental, social, and economic benefits not only for Saudi Arabia, but for the whole world,” said Dr. Ali Al Shaiki, CEO of National Fisheries Development Program.

The project, known as Development of Algal Biotechnology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia- (DABKSA), is overseen by MEWA’s National Fisheries Development Program (NFDP) located on the KAUST campus. The project director in Dr. Claudio Grünewal, joined KAUST in October 2021 from Swansea University in Wales, bringing extensive experience in marine microalgal production, with the engineering expertise needed to design, build and operate high-scale aquaculture installations. Grünewald has delivered several microalgae industrial size projects in different countries such as Spain, Chile, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Pilot program

Phase one consisted of constructing an 870 m2 -experimental facility aimed at studying the feasibility of the high-protein algae. Opened on March 22, the facility provides documented data on the productivity of algae during the first year. The data will be used to assess the feasibility, economic benefits, and sustainability of the project.

Algae grows in both seawater and fresh water, driven by sunlight’s reaction with nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon dioxide. In the DABKSA project, algae rich in protein, oils and carbohydrates are planted in systems of outdoor ponds (raceways) and closed tubes (photobioreactors). The concentrated paste is made using a liquid culture (usually conducted in testing tubes), and then it’s freeze dried to make the powdered biomass that will be included in feed for animals.

The project has several environmental benefits, and the limited sources such as soil, water, and energy are being used in growing animals and their feed. It’s also expected to help reduce greenhouse emissions usually produced by the conventional animal feeds.

Algae-based techniques can also contribute to reducing environmental impacts. Among the proposed solutions is feeding the fish the algae-based food, and then reuse the water from the tanks used to grow the fish to grow more algae, which could lead to a circular economy. Algae can grow along the Saudi coasts (3,400 kilometers), the Red Sea, and the Gulf.

Production phase

Once feasibility is demonstrated in Phase I, the Algal Biotechnology project will proceed to Phase II, which involves designing and building a larger aquaculture and algae plant. The target tonnage of dry weight biomass is expected to reach approximately 1.5 – 2 tons in the first year, and a larger yield in Phase II (late 2023-24) — between 50 and 100 tons, when the plant expands to a four-hectare facility. A future goal of DABKSA is to apply multi-trophic aquaculture approaches to the Red Sea Project and NEOM, among other in-Kingdom projects.

KAUST is a center for wide-scale research on algae in the Kingdom. In the past two years, the university has preserved the main talents and equipment to accelerate – not only the animal feed project related to the food security initiative and the Saudi Vision 2030 – but also the use of algae in the production of tires, perfumes, and pharmaceutical drugs.

The university is also the only laboratory experimenting with algae-based applied biotechnology in the Arabian Peninsula, working on identifying local algae strains, their different behaviors and tolerance of external environmental factors. KAUST has also built a library featuring the local strains of algae of commercial value to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Among the project’s team members is Dr. Kyle Lauersen, KAUST assistant professor and algae expert, who helps professor Grünewald developing strategies to train future generations of algae experts and help them apply new techniques across the Kingdom.

"I truly believe that the Kingdom has a competitive advantage to run industrial algal cultivation along the Red Sea coast with its flat land, CO2 sources, and year-round solar irradiation," Grünewald said.

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Cutting Off Rhinos' Horns is a Contentious Last Resort to Stop Poaching. New Study Found it Works

A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Cutting Off Rhinos' Horns is a Contentious Last Resort to Stop Poaching. New Study Found it Works

A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Cutting off the horns of sedated rhinos with a chainsaw has been viewed by wildlife conservationists in Africa for more than 30 years as a necessary evil to save the iconic endangered species from poaching.

They hoped the drastic action was working, but evidence was scarce.

Now, a study published Thursday in the academic journal Science has found that dehorning rhinos has led to a large reduction in poaching in game reserves in and around the Kruger National Park in northern South Africa — an area that's home to 25% of the world's rhinos and is especially vulnerable to poaching.

The results of the seven-year study that ended in 2023 are seen as long-awaited evidence that removing rhinos' horns — which needs to be done every one to two years because they grow back — helps them survive, even if the animals lose part of their makeup.

Consistently reduced poaching The conclusions seem obvious. Lucrative illegal markets in parts of southeast Asia and China crave rhino horns for use in traditional medicines, and removing the rhinos' horns take away what poachers are after.

But Tim Kuiper, a biodiversity scientist at South Africa's Nelson Mandela University and the lead author of the study, said it was new to have long-term data from multiple sites on dehorning rhinos. He said the study, conducted between January 2017 and December 2023, focused on 11 reserves in the Kruger area and compared data from eight that dehorned their rhinos against the three that didn't.

It also analyzed data from the reserves before and after they dehorned their rhinos.

The study showed that dehorning consistently reduced poaching, Kuiper said. It found that the dehorning of more than 2,000 rhinos resulted in a 78% reduction in poaching in those eight reserves, providing some confirmation that such an invasive intervention was worth it.

“It is a big part of what a rhino is, having a horn,” The Associated Press quoted Kuiper as saying. “So having to remove it is kind of a necessary evil, if I can put it that way. But it’s very effective. There’s no doubt it saved hundreds of rhinos' lives.”

South Africa has the largest numbers of black and white rhinos. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya also have significant populations. There are around 17,500 white rhinos and 6,500 black rhinos left in the world, with black rhino numbers reduced from 70,000 in 1970 to less than 2,500 by the time poaching reached a crisis point in the mid-1990s, according to the Save the Rhino organization.

Dehorning was not always accepted Dehorning rhinos started in southern Africa as early as 1989. It has not been accepted without question.

There has been opposition from animal rights activists but also questions from conservationists over what impact it has on a rhino's wellbeing, and what a future might look like with more hornless rhinos.

Vanessa Duthe, a rhino researcher in South Africa not involved in the study, said rhinos use their horns to defend themselves against predators, to compete for territory and, in the case of black rhinos, to look for food. There is also evidence that dehorned rhinos adjust their movements to live in smaller ranges, she said.

She said conservationists don't know the full impacts of dehorning, but research had found it had no adverse effect on rhinos' breeding rates or mortality rates.

“What we do know is that the benefits of dehorning by far outweigh any ecological cost that we’re aware of today,” Duthe said. She said dehorning a rhino now takes around 10 minutes and the process causes minimum distress.

Blindfolds and earmuffs are put on sedated rhinos during dehorning, which also provides an opportunity to microchip rhinos and collect samples that aid research.

Only one part of the battle Conservationists agree that dehorning alone will not end rhino poaching and Kuiper said he saw it as a short-to-mid-term solution.

Other efforts like more effective law enforcement and better support for game rangers on the frontline are key.

While South Africa has helped pull rhinos back from the threat of extinction, more than 400 rhinos a year are still killed by poachers in the country.

The dehorning study was a collaboration between scientists from three South African universities, Oxford University in England and game reserve managers and rangers. It also involved the South African National Parks department, the World Wildlife Fund and the Rhino Recovery Fund.