Abstract
Various raw materials from plant-based sources, one of which is seaweed, are currently being developed for fish feed.However, the total fiber content of seaweed is relatively higher when compared to land plant-derived feedstuff.Therefore, utilizing seaweed as fish feed requires technological engineering to reduce the fiber content, including fermentation.This research aimed to analyze the effect of various types of fermenters on the chemical composition of fermented Eucheuma cottonii seaweed powder.This research used an experimental method with 4 (four) fermenter treatments: (1) the control or non-fermented group (Treatment A), (2) yeast 1.5% (Treatment B), (3) EM-4 1:50 (v/b) (Treatment C), and (4) yeast 1.5% + EM-4 0.5:50 (v/b) (Treatment D).A total of 50 g samples of E. cottonii seaweed were provided with these treatments with an additional 10 mL molasses.The fermentation process took place for 72 hours.The fermented seaweed powder was then formulated in fish feed with a concentration of 8%.The proximate test results showed that all the treatments could reduce fiber content and increase protein and Non-Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) contents of seaweed powder compared to the control treatment (Treatment A).E. cottonii seaweed powder fermented with the EM-4 1:50 (v/b) fermenter (Treatment C) provided better results as it had the highest protein and NFE contents of 9.05% and 65.3%, respectively, and the lowest fiber content of 3.38%.Thus, when applied to feed formulation, it produced better-quality fish feed with protein and fiber contents of 49.52% and 2.02%, respectively.