Aquaculture R&D

Aquaculture research is conducted at the Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre (ARC) in Norway. It takes a similar approach to much of the work seen in the agriculture and specialties R&D. In areas such as functional ingredients and the investigation of microbiota, there is extensive cooperation and sharing of knowledge.

A central part of the aquaculture R&D aims to improve the efficiency with which fish can convert their feed into nutrients for growth and energy and thus reduce feed conversion ratios, that is the ratio of feed consumed to growth of the fish. An immediate target is defined as producing more fish protein from a species such as Atlantic salmon than is used as fishmeal in the feed they consume. This can be achieved through efficient feed conversion and the supplementation of fishmeal protein in the feed with alternative raw materials. Identifying alternatives to the marine raw materials of fishmeal and fish oil is vital for the expansion of modern aquaculture because the amount of these materials available globally is limited by the need to conserve the populations of the wild fish used to produce them. Significant breakthroughs were achieved in this area in 2009.

Attention to functional ingredients revealed a number present in fishmeal that perform essential functions apart from purely nutritional ones, for example in gut health, digestive processes and metabolic functions. Finding alternative sources for these ingredients makes it possible to reduce the fishmeal level in feed to new minimum limits. Additionally, researchers are exploring other characteristics of functional ingredients in areas such as nutrigenomics – feed ingredients that affect gene expression – and metabolomics – feed ingredients that affect metabolic pathways. Both, again, can contribute to making aquaculture more efficient.

When exploring alternative raw materials, one of the criteria is to maintain the health benefits for humans derived from eating fish. In addition to the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids notably obtained from oily fish such as the Atlantic salmon, fish provide a source of high-quality protein and vitamins and minerals in a form that humans can easily absorb.

As aquaculture expands to meet the growing demand for fish, it is adopting a wider range of species. Skretting ARC developed and collected knowledge of the nutrition of species such as Atlantic salmon, trout, sea bream and sea bass for over 20 years. Researchers are using that experience to accelerate the development of efficient feeds for new species, such as cod and tuna, where Skretting ARC is part of an EU project in tuna farming and is working with tuna farming development teams in the Asia-Pacific region.

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