A new aquaculture research center has been opened in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, by global animal health and nutrition company Alltech and its European aquaculture feed subsidiary Coppens International.
Alltech Coppens Aqua Center received more than EUR 600,000 (USD 722,181) in investment and is to house an expanded team of researchers. The new facility is intended to boost Alltech's and Coppens’ research capabilities while continuing to provide a practical platform for product development and solutions to meet the challenges of aquaculture producers.
According to the 2017 Alltech Global Feed Survey, the aquaculture industry experienced a 12 percent increase in feed production in 2016, reaching 39.9 million metric tons (MT).
Coppens expects this uptick to continue, and this trend underlines the importance of investment in aquaculture technologies, said Patrick Charlton, CEO of Coppens International.
“The center will further develop our already strong aqua research programs and allow us to significantly increase the amount and type of aqua innovation we embark upon,” he said. “To date, our research center has enabled us to achieve global recognition for our recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), and the refurbishment will allow us to continue to build upon this and to expand our work into different species, such as saltwater fish.”
Meanwhile, Coppens’ feed production facility in Nettetal, Germany, is currently undergoing expansion work and is set to open in early 2018.
One of Coppens’ primary objectives is to replace fish oil DHA with algae and over the course of the last 12 months, it has progressively incorporated Alltech’s DHA-rich algae technology ForPlus into its diets.
The inclusion of ForPlus allows for a fully traceable, sustainable source of DHA omega-3 and a fish oil replacement, said Alltech. Trout feed Neo Green is one of the new products developed to provide customers with a sustainable alternative to fish oil and inorganic trace minerals as well as functional additives to support fish health and performance.
