Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 2019, 9, 414-428 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojas ISSN Online: 2161-7627 ISSN Print: 2161-7597 DOI: 10.4236/ojas.2019.94033 Sep. 20, 2019 414 Open Journal of Animal Sciences Availability and Nutritive Value of Spirulina (Arthrospira fusiformis) from Arenguade and Chitu Lakes of Rift Valley of Ethiopia and Farmers’ Perception about Its Utilization Eden Getachew 1 , Tegene Negesse 2* , Ajebu Nurfeta 2 1 College of Agriculture, Jinka University, Jinka, Ethiopia 2 School of Animal and Range Sciences, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia Abstract Farmers perception about availability and utilization of Spirulina (Arthrospira fusiformis) were assessed and its nutritive value compared against reference proteins (soybean and nuge cake). Samples of Spirulina were collected from Arenguade and Chitu lakes of rift valley of Ethiopia. A survey was conducted on purposively selected 100 households (HH) living around the Lakes which are located in Gerbicha and Labu subuqa districts of Debre Zeit town and west Arsi zone, respectively. Chemical composition and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and total gas volume (TGV) of feed samples were de- termined. Respondents of both districts are not aware of Spirulina as animal feed. Spirulina was available during dry season in Arenguade and whole year in Chitu. The highest (p < 0.05) ash (26%), ether extract (EE, 13%), crude protein (CP, 33%) and IVDMD (96%) was recorded for Spirulina from Lake Arenguade. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in crude fiber (CF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lig- nin (ADL) and metabolizable energy (ME) contents between Spirulina from both lakes. Spirulina from Chitu produced the highest TGV (31.2 ml) and fermented faster than Spirulina from Arenguade. Lowest (p < 0.05) ash, EE, CP and IVDMD and higher (p < 0.05) CF, NDF, ADF, ADL and TGV were recorded for reference proteins than Spirulina. ME content of Spirulina (3200 kcal/kg) was higher (p < 0.05) than that of nuge cake (3011 kcal/kg) but lower (p < 0.05) than that of soybean (3474 kcal/kg). Therefore, the chemical com- position and IVDMD showed the potential of Spirulina to be used as a subs- titute of the reference feeds. How to cite this paper: Getachew, E., Ne- gesse, T. and Nurfeta, A. (2019) Availability and Nutritive Value of Spirulina (Arthros- pira fusiformis) from Arenguade and Chitu Lakes of Rift Valley of Ethiopia and Far- mers’ Perception about Its Utilization. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 9, 414-428. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojas.2019.94033 Received: May 23, 2019 Accepted: September 17, 2019 Published: September 20, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access