Fishmeal (Source: www.nofima.no)
According to the Nofima website, salmon can grow well on feeds utilising far less fishmeal than is currently standard.
Whilst fishmeal is a valuable source of protein, a combination of price, sustainability and flexibility factors are leading feed producers to source alternatives. Plant proteins cannot completely replace marine ingredients without affecting the performance of the farmed fish. Therefore, Nofima is investigating the issue from a different perspective – by increasing the nutritional value of the fishmeal, less product is required.
Some of the substances that make raw marine ingredients valuable are separated with water in the production of fishmeal. The water is referred to as ’stickwater’ and in order to exploit it, the stickwater is highly concentrated and returned to the fishmeal. Examples of substances in the stickwater include: free amino acids, peptides, small proteins, minerals and soluble vitamins. The production of low value fishmeal for non-aquaculture feed purposes does not include the transfer of the stickwater back to the fishmeal. This creates a surplus of stickwater that Nofima believe can be utilised in fish feed for the aquaculture industry.
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