A LOW COST MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR COLOUR RETAINING ORNAMENTAL FISH FEED FROM WASTE MARIGOLD FLOWERS

Abstract

This invention uses waste marigold flowers and follows a low cost manufacturing method for preparation of colour retaining ornamental fish feed. The method steps are- Acquiring waste marigold flowers up to three days old from locations using them but having petal or floret pigmentation of 1-5mg/1gm; Cleaning the acquired flowers with hand-washing in a bucket of water with a pH neutral detergent, then in clean water and followed by disinfection in aqueous KMnO4 solution; Processing the cleaned marigold flowers by fan drying, hand plucking the florets, again fan drying and then oven drying them and grinding and sieving them to obtain flower powder; Collecting Soybean meal, Mustard oil cake, Fish meal, Rice bran, Corn flour from low cost sources; Mixing the collected ingredients with flower powder by hand and pelleting to obtain the fish feed. This low cost feed was tested with Pethia gelius with positive pigmentation results.

Specification

Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND USE OF INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of fish feed, particularly to the colour retaining fish feed specially made for ornamental fishes and having marigold flowers as one of its key ingredients. This invention discloses a low cost method for manufacturing the said fish feed from discarded marigold flowers. This invention will provide low cost production of the marigold flower based fish feed together with the reduction of marigold flower waste.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Fish feed provides a balanced diet for proper growth and well-being of the fishes used in the aquaculture industry. Unlike fish in their natural environment, fish in captivity rely on their feed for their nutrients. If the feed is lacking in vital nutrients, the fish may not be able to survive or grow to their full potential as desired. Further, the fish feed can represent over 50% of the operational cost in aquaculture. As fish feed costs remain high, finding quality feed at a reasonable price is becoming a challenge for many commercial farmers. Recent innovations have aimed at ways to reduce the dependence on fishmeal and fish oil use as fish feed ingredients and shift to alternatives such as plant-based ingredients.
Ornamental fish is a class of fish that is grown in small captive environment, usually an aquarium, having desired consumer characteristics such as being attractive, colorful, active, hardy, compatible, peaceful, non-aggressive. They should therefore be easily adaptable to fish feed and have comparatively slower growth rate. It is estimated that more than 300 varieties of both indigenous and exotic ornamental fish are traded in India. Aquarium fish keeping, which was earlier considered as a hobby, is now transformed into one of the most profitable business with a great scope for foreign exchange earnings and employment generation.
One of the most important and desired characteristics of ornamental fish in the industry is the colour. The market value of ornamental fish is intricately tied to their visual appeal, with brighter colours commanding higher prices. In order to allow an ornamental fish to exhibit the most vibrant color, carotenoids are added as an enhancer in their fish feed as fish cannot synthesize their own carotenoids and rely on their diet to obtain these crucial pigmentation enhancers. For formulating the ornamental fish feeds, the oilcakes of groundnut, soybean, sesame, mustard and sunflower, fish meal, meat and bone meal, fish processing waste, rendered animal protein are used as dietary protein sources. On the other hand, maize, rice bran and wheat bran used as carbohydrate sources and fish oil, vegetable oil are used as lipid sources. For carotenoids, natural colourants such as spirulina, beetroot, carrot, hibiscus and marigold are commonly used, which are very rich in the carotene contents are used to enhance the pigmentation in ornamental fish.
Ornamental fish feed containing marigold flower i.e. Tagetes erecta as the natural carotenoid source is gaining popularity in the fish feed industry. Lutein is a yellow plant pigment belonging to the xanthophyll family of carotenoids and the petals of marigold flowers contain a high level of lutein content. As lutein is also an effective antioxidant, marigold flowers are utilized in fish feed, benefitting both as a natural coloring pigment and functional food ingredient. Such feed is prepared from freshly collected Marigold that undergoes sun-drying before being finely powdered and added to the basal diet at a rate of 4% to 11%. A few related priors are as follows-
(a) Patent application No.CN116508909A titled- FEED FOR ENHANCING YELLOW PIGMENT ACCUMULATION OF PIGMENT CELLS ON BODY SURFACE OF SMALL ORNAMENTAL FISH AND PREPARATION METHOD OF FEED, discloses a feed for enhancing the accumulation of pigment and cytochrome on the body surface of a small ornamental fish, which belongs to the technical field of aquaculture, and the feed is used for feeding the small ornamental fish, particularly three-lake Ci porgy, so that the accumulation of pigment and cytochrome on the body surface of the small ornamental fish can be effectively enhanced, and the color of the pigment and the cytochrome on the body surface of the small ornamental fish can be enhanced; the composite material is a mixture prepared from the following raw materials in parts by weight: 93 to 94.75 parts of basic component substances and 5.25 to 7 parts of functional component substances; the functional component substances comprise carotenoid-containing substances, the carotenoid content in the carotenoid-containing substances is 85-310 mg/kg, and the crude fat content in the feed is 10-11%. The invention also discloses a preparation method of the feed.
(b) Research paper titled- EFFECT OF BOTANICAL ADDITIVES ON PIGMENTATION AND GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF INDIGO BARB (PETHIA SETNAI) published in the Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, www.jetir.org, June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 6, discloses the impact of incorporating botanical additives as natural carotenoid sources in the feed on the pigmentation and growth performance of Indigo Barb (Pethia setnai), a popular tropical freshwater ornamental fish endemic to the Western Ghats. Four experimental diets, enriched with 10% Marigold, Beetroot, Hibiscus, and Spirulina respectively, were formulated and fed to captive-bred Indigo Barb over a 60-day period, with a control group receiving a basal diet. The study meticulously evaluated growth performance metrics and total carotenoid content in fish tissue. Results indicate that the Marigold diet outperforms others, displaying the highest carotenoid content (7.6µg/g) and fostering superior growth metrics. The study underscores Marigold as a potent natural carotenoid source for enhancing both coloration and growth in the Indigo Barb, contributing valuable insights to the field of ornamental fish nutrition.
(c) Research paper titled- MARIGOLD AS A CAROTENOID SOURCE ON PIGMENTATION AND GROWTH OF RED SWORDTAIL, XIPHOPHORUS HELLERI published in the Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 8: 99-102 (2008), discloses colouration as one of the major factors deciding the market value of the ornamental fish. In captive conditions the fish show fade colouration and fail to get attracted by the buyers. To overcome the problem, they have planned an experiment with the cheap pigmenting source namely the marigold petal meal. The results are encouraging so that marigold petal meal could be used as a pigmenting source at a concentration of 15 g / 100 g feed of dry weight. Leaching of pigmenting source is also a problem. Hence, experiment was conducted with marigold petal enriched gelatine based diet. From the present investigation, it is considered that a gelatine based diet enriched with both marigold petal powder and protein ingredients might give a better result of growth and pigmentation.
(d) Research paper titled- THE EFFECTS OF MARIGOLD AS NATURAL CAROTENOIDS ON SCALE CHROMATOPHORES' VARIATIONS IN BLUE GOURAMI UNDER DIFFERENT STOCKING DENSITIES published in the Journal of Survey in Fisheries Sciences, Volume 5 - Issue 2 (2019), discloses Skin coloration is important in ornamental fish. Fish coloration is due to the presence of chromatophores, which contain pigments and are usually located in dermis. In this study, the effects Marigold as natural carotenoids were investigated on fish scale chromatophores' variations under different stocking densities. For this, diet containing 2.5% Marigold along with a control diet were fed to the fish held at two stocking densities of 20 and 30 fish (0.6 and 0.9 fish/Liter). After 70 d, changes in chromatophores were monitored in fish scales upper lateral line. The fish initial weight was 0. 80±0.02 g. Each treatment had three replications. According to the results, four different chromatophores, including Punctate, Punctate-stellate, Stellate, Stellate-reticulate were observed in the fish at the higher density. The results suggest that increase in stocking density alters chromatophores type and results in hypermelanosis that affects body surface and neural system; thus, chromatophores indicate stress contamination.
(e) Patent application No.CN113693174A titled- FEED FOR RAPIDLY INCREASING COLOR OF GOLDEN KOI, discloses a feed for rapidly increasing the color of golden Cyprinus carpio, which comprises the following components in parts by weight: 20-25 parts of soybean meal; 3-5 parts of fermented soybean meal; 12-15 parts of double-low rapeseed meal; 8-10 parts of fish meal; 3-5 parts of chicken powder; 12-15 parts of flour; 8-10 parts of wheat bran; 4-7 parts of bentonite; 3-12 parts of soybean oil; 0.1 part of mildew preventive; 0.2 part of choline chloride; 0.2-0.3 part of sodium chloride; 2 parts of monocalcium phosphate; 1 part of premix; 0.5-1 part of marigold. By eating the feed prepared by the invention, the golden fancy carp can be rapidly yellowed, and after the feed is stopped, the retention rate of the body color yellowness is high, thereby being beneficial to selling commercial fishes and improving the sales profit.
However, the prior arts disclose the use of marigold flowers that are sourced fresh or stored for the purpose of preparing fish feed only. They further use methods that require equipment or processing that leads to high cost of production. In India, marigold flowers are extensively used for social and religious functions in the form of garlands and offerings. They are offered to many deities as offerings in favor of blessings. After offering the florals to the deities, the flowers complete the purpose of worshiping but lose their value and are then treated as waste, collected with other waste before finding their way to be dumped in water bodies. These spent marigold flowers still contain good amount of lutein that can be used for fish feed production. However, as compared to fresh marigold flowers that require less processing, spent one may require more processing for fish feed preparation. Thus, the problem to be solved is to provide a low-cost method of using these waste marigold flowers especially for the manufacture of colour retaining ornamental fish feed.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
The principal object of this invention is to provide a low-cost method of manufacture of marigold flower based colour retaining ornamental fish feed.
Another object of this invention is to provide a colour retaining ornamental fish feed from discarded marigold flowers.
Another object of this invention is to provide a solution for reducing marigold flower waste in the related industry.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention discloses a low cost method to produce ornamental fish feed using waste marigold flowers. The steps of the method are disclosed as- (a)Acquiring waste marigold flowers up to three days old from temples, public events where marigold flowers are used as decorations, marriage halls etc. and selection is made for only those flowers with intact inflorescence and having petal or floret pigmentation around 1-5mg/g; (b)Cleaning the acquired flowers with hand-washing in a bucket of water with a mild pH neutral detergent and then in clean water and then in aqueous KMnO4 solution where the hand-washing is performed as- using the palm of the hand, the floating flowers are carefully pushed to the bottom of the bucket so that they fully immerse in the detergent-water and then releasing the palm to allow them to float back towards the surface and this process is repeated 5-7 times; (c)Processing the cleaned marigold flowers by first laying them over newsprint paper placed on a flat surface and then fan drying them, hand plucking the florets from the flower, again fan drying them but in a dark room and then oven drying them at 37℃ to 40℃ for 48 hours for a moisture content of 10.5% to 12.65% and followed by grinding and sieving them to obtain the flower powder; (d)Collecting Soybean meal, Mustard oil cake, Fish meal, Rice bran, Corn flour from low cost sources such as local wholesale market; (e)Mixing the collected ingredients with flower powder in specific proportions in a clean stainless-steel tray using gloved-hands and then forming a dough, pelleting, air drying, oven drying at 37℃ to 40⁰C for up to 48 hours to obtain the fish feed. This low cost fish feed was found to contain total carotenoids as beta carotene as- 218.62mg/kg. This fish feed was experimented with the ornamental fish- Pethia gelius with positive pigmentation results. This invention aids in reducing production costs of ornamental fish feed and promoting the reuse of marigold flowers to manage their waste.
DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows the flowchart of the manufacturing method disclosed in this invention.
Figure 2 shows the marigold flowers where (a)shows the waste discarded ones used in this invention and (b) shows the fresh ones that are used in the prior art.
Figure 3 shows the different raw materials used in this invention.
Figure 4shows the different equipment used in this invention.
Figure 5 shows the pictorial representation of the different steps and sub-steps of the method disclosed in this invention.
Figure 6 shows the pigmentation testing of the fish feed produced from this invention applied to Pethia gelius in control and test specimens over a period of 45 days.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In this invention, an ornamental fish feed having the characteristics of colour retention or enhancement is made from waste marigold flowers- Tagetes erecta following a low-cost method of production. Marigold flowers are already known for use in ornamental fish feed with colour retention or enhancement characteristics but this invention focuses on using spent or waste marigold flowers that are usually discarded as waste but still contain a good amount of lutein. The cost of waste marigold flower is almost nil as compared to fresh marigold flowers and that can be acquired from temple premises or after religious and social events. This approach serves a dual purpose- reducing production costs and promoting the reuse of marigold flowers to manage waste.
The low-cost method is disclosed with reference to Figure1 and its detailed sub-steps with reference to Figure 5, as follows-
(a) Acquiring and selecting waste marigold flowers: Marigold flowers that are used and treated as waste are acquired which are up to 3 days old from their use. The sources are temples, public events where marigold flowers are used as decorations, marriage halls etc. Only those flowers with intact inflorescence and having petal or floret pigmentation of 1-5mg/g are selected for use. The aim is to utilize the petal and florets that are still attached to the flower even after use. Care has to be taken not to select any flower that is in a decomposing state or flowers that are covered with oil such as mustard oil or ghee. The flowers should also not be covered with synthetic colours like sindur used in temples. However, the flowers used in a puja with a little sprinkle of oil or sindur present can be selected. A sample of the selected flowers is tested for pigmentation and then confirmed for use, as shown in Figure 2(a). The sample seems worn out in comparison to the fresh ones as shown in Figure 2(b) but still contain a good amount of pigment enhancing capability.
(b) Cleaning selected marigold flowers: The selected marigold flowers are first made free from any visible foreign material by hand such as threads, plastic etc. and then put into a cylindrical bucket of water containing a pH neutral detergent in mild concentration where the ratio of the level of the water in the bucket to the level of the flowers put into it is maintained at 1.5:1. A pH neutral detergent is used so that the flowers are not affected by the harsh acidic or alkaline nature of other detergents. Then, hand-washing is performed as follows- by using the palm of the hand, the floating flowers are carefully pushed to the bottom of the bucket so that they fully immerse in the detergent-water and then releasing the palm to allow them to float back towards the surface and this process is repeated 5-7 times. Also, the ratio of the level of the flowers and the water is set for optimum mechanical cleaning of the flowers while reducing water usage. Agitation or circular mixing motion is not used as it may damage the florets and petals. Next, the flowers are transferred to another bucket containing clean water and then hand-washed again with the same method for 3-5 times to remove the detergent or remaining dirt. The flowers are then disinfected by immersing them in Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solution in water with a concentration of 1mg/L, for 1 minute only and then removed and then rinsed in another bucket of clean water. Finally, the water is completely drained and flowers are collected in a clean container. This step removes most of the sand, mud, soot and other environmental pollutants from the selected marigold flowers.
(c) Processing cleaned marigold flowers: The cleaned marigold flowers are subjected to temporary drying on a flat surface over newsprint paper such as newspaper under the fan for 30-45 minutes. The flowers are then subjected to the removal of its petals i.e. the disk florets and the ray florets by hand plucking from the calyx and the remaining parts are discarded. The plucked petals are again laid out on a flat surface over newsprint in a dark room with a low humidity and then allowed to fan dry there for 24 hours. The newsprint paper, being an inexpensive paper, typically a newspaper, absorbs moisture and water droplets from the petals very quickly and allows for quicker drying. A low humidity room, such as a storehouse or a room that gets heated in the day, typically a top floor room of a building or a room getting good sunlight and not containing any moisture generating things. The fan used is a typical ceiling fan at medium speed. A dark room is used to avoid oxidative damage by direct or indirect light. Care should be taken that the laid out petals maintain a uniform layer thickness of 5mm because this ensures proper execution of the steps of absorption and fan drying in the stipulated time. After 24 hours of fan drying, the petals are further dried in an oven at 37℃-40℃ for 48 hours. The desired moisture content in the dried petals is 10.5%-12.65%. The dried petals are then finely ground in a typical mixer-grinder to powder form and then sieved with a typical kitchen sieve used for flour, which has a typical grid size of 1mm, to obtain the marigold powder. The sieved petal powder is then stored into an air tight glass, Polypropylene (PP) or High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) container at room temperature and away from direct sunlight.
(d) Collecting and preparing fish feed ingredients: The ingredients required for the fish feed are- Soybean meal, Mustard cake, Fish meal, Rice bran, Corn flour, Flower powder and Vegetable oil. A low-cost approach is followed to source the ingredients. Soybean meal is sourced as a bag of chunks from local wholesale market, which is grounded into fine powder in a grinder. Mustard cake is sourced as a bag of de-oiled cakes, the leftover part after milling mustard seeds, from a local mill and grounded into a fine powder in a grinder. Fish meal is sourced as a mixture of fish waste and small fishes from local market, which are dried properly under the sun and then grounded into a fine powder in a grinder. Rice bran, Corn flour and Vegetable oil are sourced from local wholesale market.
(e) Preparing fish feed: Soybean meal, Mustard oil cake, Fish meal, Rice bran, Corn flour, Marigold flower powder and Vegetable oil are taken in definite proportions as disclosed in the Table 1 and shown in Figure 3-
Table 1: Composition of ingredients for 1kg fish feed
Ingredient Amount
Soybean meal 262.7 g
Mustard oil cake 262.7 g
Fish meal 262.7 g
Rice bran 86 g
Corn flour 86 g
Marigold flower powder 40 g
Vegetable oil 10 ml
Purified drinking water 150ml/kg
The ingredients are prepared using simple tools and equipment, as shown in Figure 4. The ingredients, except the vegetable oil and water, are first measured and deposited on a clean, stainless-steel tray in a sterile or clean and closed environment. The proportion of the Soybean meal, Mustard oil cake and Fish meal used is 26.27% and the proportion of the Rice bran and Corn flour used is 8.6% and the proportion of the Marigold flower powder used is 4%. Then they are mixed using gloved hands and oil and water are added periodically to the mixture to shape it into dough. The consistency of the resultant mixture dough should be like cookie dough, such that it should hold together without being overly crumbly or too sticky. Next, the prepared dough is processed into small flakes or pellets, typically 2mm diameter, or according to the mouth size of the target ornamental fish, using a Stainless-steel Kitchen Press. The kitchen press is operated by hand. Next, the pellets are air-dried for 2 hrs and then dried in an oven at 37℃-40⁰C until they attain a desired moisture content of 8% to 9%, which can be achieved by oven drying continuously up to 48 hrs. The resultant fish feed is thus obtained and is stored in an air tight Polypropylene (PP) or High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) container in a cool, dry place avoiding direct sunlight. Storage in TARSONS™ wide mouth PP containers show a better shelf life of more than 6 months.
The prepared fish feed is characterized as follows-
(i) Ingredients: Soyabean meal, Mustard oil cake, Fish meal, Rice bran, Corn flour, Waste marigold flower powder and Vegetable oil.
(ii) Composition of ingredients: As disclosed in Table 1.
(iii) Colour: Brown.
(iv)Texture: Dry pellets.
(v) Proximate composition: As disclosed in Table 2-
Table2: Proximate composition of the feed
Ingredients Percentage (%)
Crude protein 30.41%
Crude fat 5.87%
Ash 7.53%
Carbohydrate 48.33%
Crude fibre 7.89%
Moisture 9.89%
Total carotenoids as beta carotene 218.62 mg/kg
In an embodiment of the invention, an experiment was carried out on a small ornamental fish-Golden Dwarf Barb i.e. Pethia gelius, indigenous to Assam, India. For formulating the fish feed using the ingredients mentioned above, Pearson Square method was followed. Two types of feed sample were prepared, Test and Control, labelled as 'T 'and 'C. Here, the Test feed received supplementation with waste marigold flower petals powder, while the Control feed remained unaltered. In this experiment, 30% protein as basal feed and 4% waste marigold flower powder as supplementation was taken into consideration. Feeding trial was then continued for 45 days on the fish in separate tanks denoted as 'C' and 'T'. The result was that total carotenoid concentration of fish tissue samples after 45 days of feeding was found to be 15.4±0.6μg/g in Control (C) and 43.32±1.5μg/g in Test (T) specimen per gram wet weight of tissue sample. The pigmentation was observed to improve after 7-10 days of feeding with waste marigold supplementation in Pethia gelius. During the feeding experiment, the skin pigmentation gradually retained and the pigmentation started to fade 20-25 days after experimental feeding was stopped. The details of experiment are shown in Figure 6 and disclosed in the Table 3 below-
Table 3: Experiment
Ingredients per 1kg fish feed Ingredient 'C' (Control feed) 'T' (Test feed)
Fish meal (g) 262.7 262.7
Soybean meal (g) 262.7 262.7
Mustard oil cake (g) 262.7 262.7
Rice bran (g) 106 86
Corn flour (g) 106 86
Flower powder (g) 0 40
Vegetable oil (ml) 10 10
Proximate composition of the feed Ingredients 'C' (Control feed) 'T' (Test feed)
Crude protein (%) 27.67 30.41
Crude fat (%) 4.75 5.87
Ash (%) 8.81 7.53
Carbohydrate (%) 50.34 48.33
Crude fibre (%) 8.43 7.89
Moisture (%) 9.23 9.89
Total carotenoids as beta carotene (mg/kg) 40.18 218.62
Total carotenoids in fish tissue sample Parameter 'C' (Control) 'T' (Test)
Total Carotenoids (μg/g wet weight) 15.4±0.6 43.32±1.5
A market survey was carried out at Fresh Flower Market, Fancy Bazar, Guwahati, Assam on 5/03/2024, where fresh marigold flowers are sold as flower garland with cost ranging from Rs.50-130 per garland depending on availability having 40-60 numbers of flowers. Since the marigold flowers used in our invention were collected as waste material, there were no associated collection costs. A cost analysis of the prepared fish feed of our invention was carried out. It was found that 1 Kg of the fish feed could be prepared at Rs.93.26 and with labour, processing and other charges, it could come at about Rs.160. The selling price with a profit margin could be set at about Rs.280. Further, a market survey revealed three types of popular colour retaining fish feed with rates- Optimum™ @665/- per 1kg, Tunai™ @400/- per 100g and Hikari™ @600/- per 100g. Thus, the analysis reveals that the product cost of the fish feed prepared from our invention is significantly lower than that of other commercially available colour-enhancing feeds in the market.
The advantages of our invention are as follows-
(i) Reuse of discarded marigold flowers and its waste management.
(ii) Indigenous ornamental fish experimented with success leading to high possibility of increased commercialization and market value of the same.
(iii) Low-cost locally sourced raw materials.
(iv) The invention can be commercialized with very low-cost equipment and low-cost method. , Claims:We claim:
1. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers comprising the following steps:
(a) Acquiring waste marigold flowers from temples or public events or marriage halls and then selecting from them only the flowers which are not in decomposing state and not covered with oil or synthetic colours;
(b) Cleaning the selected marigold flowers of step(a) by first removing any visible foreign material from them and then putting them into a cylindrical bucket of water containing detergent and then hand-washing them there 5 to 7 times and then transferring them to another bucket containing clean water and then again hand-washing them there 3 to 5 times and then immersing them into 1mg/L Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) solution in water and then rinsing them in clean water to obtain cleaned marigold flowers;
(c) Processing the cleaned marigold flowers obtained in step(b) by first laying them over paper placed on a flat surface and then fan drying them and then hand plucking the florets from each flower and then laying the plucked florets over paper placed on a flat surface in a dark room with low humidity and then fan drying them and then oven drying them and then grinding them into a powder followed by sieving them with 1mm grid size sieve to obtain marigold flower powder;
(d) Collecting fish feed ingredients by first grinding Mustard de-oiled cakes obtained from mustard oil mill into a fine powder and then sun drying fish waste and small fishes obtained from fish market and then grinding them into a fine powder and then obtaining Soybean meal, Rice bran, Corn flour, Flower powder and Vegetable oil from wholesale market;
(e) Preparing fish feed by first mixing the Soybean meal, Mustard cake powder, Fish meal powder, Rice bran, Corn flour and Marigold flower powder taken in proportions in a clean stainless-steel tray using gloved-hands and then periodically adding vegetable oil and water forming a dough and then processing the dough into flakes or pellets according to the required sizes using a Stainless-steel Kitchen Press and then air drying the flakes or pellets and then oven drying them to obtain the fish feed;
Wherein
in step(a), the selected flowers have intact inflorescence and are up to three days old from their use and having petal or floret pigmentation of 1mg to 5mg per 1g of flowers;
in step(b), the hand-washing is performed by pushing the floating flowers of the bucket with the palm of the hand towards the bottom of the bucket immersing them completely in the detergent-water or water of the bucket and then releasing the palm to allow them to float back towards the surface of the detergent-water or water;
in step(b), the detergent used is a pH neutral detergent;
in step(c), the paper used is newsprint paper;
in step(c), the plucked florets are laid over the paper in a uniform layer thickness of 5mm;
in step(c), the required moisture content of the oven dried florets is in the range of 10.5% to 12.65%;
in step(e), the proportion of each of the Soybean meal, Mustard cake and Fish meal used is 26.27% whereas the proportion of each of the Rice bran and Corn flour used is 8.6% and the proportion of the Marigold flower powder used is 4%.
2. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers as claimed in Claim1 wherein in step(b), the ratio of the level of the water to the level of the flowers in the bucket is maintained at 1.5:1.
3. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers as claimed in Claim1 wherein in step(b), the flowers are immersed into the Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solution for 1 minute only.
4. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers as claimed in Claim1 wherein in step(c), the cleaned marigold flowers are fan dried for 30 to 45 minutes whereas the plucked florets are fan dried for 24 hours.
5. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers as claimed in Claim1 wherein in step(c), the florets are oven dried at 37℃ to 40℃ for 48 hours;
6. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers as claimed in Claim1 wherein in step(e), the flakes or pellets are air dried for 2 hours and oven dried at 37℃ to 40⁰C for 48 hours.
7. A Low Cost Manufacturing Method For Colour Retaining Ornamental Fish Feed From Waste Marigold Flowers as claimed in Claim1 wherein in step(e), the required moisture content of the produced fish feed is 8% to 9%.

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