Some of the industry’s top aquafeed researchers have been showcased at the World Aquaculture 2014 Conference in Adelaide this week.
“As the aquaculture industry grows, it requires continuous innovation and progressive research to develop and improve the sustainability of aquafeeds to support the increase in demand for high quality seafood,” according to Dr Alex Obach from Skretting Aquaculture Research Center (ARC).
Dr Obach was the keynote speaker in the Shrimp Nutrition session where he
discussed some of the major challenges faced by today’s shrimp farming industry.
discussed some of the major challenges faced by today’s shrimp farming industry.
“Recent developments in nutritional research have contributed to improved water quality, health status and optimised performance for shrimp farming operations," Dr Obach said.“Key research is being conducted on developing health supporting diets for shrimp for complex diseases (such as Early Mortality Syndrome and White Spot Disease), through technology transferring information from more developed aquaculture species like Atlantic salmon.”
Dr Obach mentioned another key area of research being the identification and availability of suitable raw materials, understanding their exact nutritional compositions, and then undertaking trials to test these raw materials on shrimp growth and health.
Other speakers in the Shrimp Nutrition session discussed:
• Alternative protein sources to substitute fishmeal to increase the sustainability of marine shrimp production in a biofloc system
• CSIRO’s production of a novel bioactive feed ingredient, called NovacqTM, which can help reduce dependence on expensive, scarce and potentially unsustainable marine resources in diets for shrimp
• a session on microalgal bioremediation which could potentially produce a functional feed additive appealing to the development of sustainable prawn aquaculture.
Skretting Australia, the leading supplier of aquaculture feeds in Australia and New Zealand, is the naming rights sponsor for WAA14. Other major sponsors are the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd.