BioMar: Novel ingredients can drive fish health and aquaculture sustainability
They are maintaining strong growth performance as well as showing positive effects on robustness, welfare, and health, according to the aquafeed major.
Changing feed formulas can be challenging, as new materials must meet stringent requirements to maintain growth, feed conversion rates, robustness, health, and welfare. Fishmeal, for example, is highly stable and rich in digestible protein and essential amino acids, making it an important part of the diet. Successful replacement of fishmeal with plant-based proteins requires careful nutrient supplementation, such as amino acids, to avoid growth and welfare issues.
Marine oils, another key component, supply essential omega-3 fatty acids like EPA and DHA, which are critical for maintaining robustness and immune health under modern farming conditions. Replacing these oils with alternatives requires careful supplementation of fat-soluble vitamins.
However, BioMar says its R&D team has gained extensive knowledge in transitioning from marine ingredients to processed animal products, plant-based proteins, and more recently, novel sources.
Algal oils
At the Global Seafood Conference in Scotland last week, Simon Wadsworth, BioMar’s global R&D director, outlined how algal oils can successfully substitute marine fish oils, providing essential DHA and EPA fatty acids. Ten years of research has shown that that algal oils can fully replace fish oil with no negative impact on growth, FCR, or product quality across different species and farming stages.
Algal oil has been used in salmon, shrimp, and marine fish feeds, achieving commercial scale with over 4 million tonnes of BioMar feed sold containing this novel oil source while prices remained competitive compared to other DHA and EPA sources, reported Wadsworth.
This has made an important contribution to aiding key physiological and immune functions that are dependent on the supply of the EPA and DHA nutrients.
Dr Antony Prabhu Philip, a senior scientist at NOFIMA, believes there a link between declining marine osmolytes in feed and rising winter wounds and ulcers in salmon.
Speaking at the IFFO’s annual conference in Lisbon this month, he called for a renewed industry focus on marine-based osmolytes in salmon feed to address health challenges linked to cold temperatures, such as dehydration and increased susceptibility to disease.
“It’s crucial to adjust feed formulations to meet the fish’s health needs,” he stressed, emphasizing that certain health benefits can only be provided by marine ingredients.
Single cell proteins
Single cell proteins offer great potential in terms of future volumes and raw material flexibility. Research undertaken by BioMar and leading research partners has shown that these proteins are performing very well for both growth and robustness in a range of aquaculture species.
They are evaluating components such as bacterial meals, fungi, and yeast. Yeast protein has shown strong performance at 20% inclusion with no differences observed in growth or feed conversion. In addition to growth performance, these single-cell protein sources contain important cell wall components like b-glucans, mannan oligosaccharides, lipopolysaccharides, and peptidoglycan. These compounds can potentially stimulate immune responses over long-term feeding, influencing immune and physiological pathways, according to the partners.
Advanced techniques such as transcriptomics, metabolomics, microbiota analysis, and histology have been used to assess these factors. So far, results have shown no unwanted upregulation of the immune system, and single-cell proteins are proving promising for long-term feeding.
Insect meals
Other novel raw material sources are following a larger-scale commercial implementation, and trials have shown that insect meals can be included at high levels of protein replacement, with no adverse effects, found BioMar.
Company data shows freshwater salmon fed insect meal have demonstrated strong growth and robustness, potentially benefiting from a nutrient profile like their natural prey. BioMar outlined how larger, full commercial scale validation trials of insect meal are now underway, at several customer sites. Shrimp and marine fish have similarly shown good feed intake and survival rates, it added.
Speaking at the same event in Scotland, Elin Kvamme, global aqua director, Innovafeed, shared findings from the company’s recent research on insect meal in shrimp feeds.
“The inclusion of insect meal can help shrimp better resist common bacterial infections like vibriosis and viral diseases such as white spot syndrome virus which is a significant concern in shrimp farming. The combination of antimicrobial peptides, chitin, and lauric acid in insect meals contributes to these health benefits by enhancing immune function, improving gut health, and providing anti-inflammatory effects.”
