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BACKGROUND  Since available arable land is limited and nitrogen fertilizers pollute the environment, cropping systems ought to be developed that do not rely on them. Here we investigate the rapidly growing, N 2 ‐fixing  Azolla / Nostoc  symbiosis for its potential productivity and chemical composition to determine its potential as protein feed.    RESULTS  In a small production system, cultures of  Azolla pinnata  and  Azolla filiculoides  were continuously harvested for over 100 days, yielding an average productivity of 90.0–97.2 kg dry weight (DW) ha −1  d −1 . Under ambient CO 2  levels, N 2  fixation by the fern's cyanobacterial symbionts accounted for all nitrogen in the biomass. Proteins made up 176–208 g kg −1  DW (4.9 × total nitrogen), depending on species and CO 2  treatment, and contained more essential amino acids than protein from soybean. Elevated atmospheric CO 2  concentrations (800 ppm) significantly boosted biomass production by 36–47%, without decreasing protein content. Choice of species and CO 2  concentrations further affected the biomass content of lipids (79–100 g kg −1  DW) and (poly)phenols (21–69 g kg −1  DW).    CONCLUSIONS  By continuous harvesting, high protein yields can be obtained from  Azolla  cultures, without the need for nitrogen fertilization. High levels of (poly)phenols likely contribute to limitations in the inclusion rate of  Azolla  in animal diets and need further investigation. © 2018 The Authors.  Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture  published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

journal of the science of food and agriculture

Growing  Azolla  to produce sustainable protein feed: the effect of differing species and CO 2  concentrations on biomass productivity and chemical composition