Fish feed producer Skretting on Tuesday announced results from a series of trials revealing a new low limit for fishmeal in salmon feed.
The trials, run by the company's Aquaculture Research Center, were conducted on fish from 1 to 5 kilograms and showed excellent growth and a low feed conversion rate (FCR) on salmon provided feed with 15 percent fishmeal and no land animal protein.
"We used three feeds, and the best results came from an experimental feed using only 15 percent fishmeal together with active ingredients we are currently investigating," said Dr. Alex Obach, managing director of Skretting ARC. "The results totally change our previous belief that the lower limit for fishmeal was 25 percent unless land animal proteins were used."
The two other feeds were more conventional, with 25 percent fishmeal and a similar experimental feed using 15 percent fishmeal but without the active ingredients.
Trials at Helgeland Havbruksstasjon, in Norway, used three groups of 180 fish starting at around 2.6 kilograms. Over 73 days they grew to around 4.7 kilograms. The high fishmeal control group achieved a relative growth index (RGI) of 169 percent. However, the group fed the feed with 15 percent fishmeal plus active ingredients achieved an RGI of 172 percent. The group fed the basic 15 percent fishmeal feed recorded an RGI of 152 percent.
The reduction in fishmeal showed no negative effects on fish quality, the fish remained healthy, according to Skretting. The FCR was below 1 for all groups.
"It is the first time we have achieved such good results in growth and FCR with low fishmeal feeds without using land animal proteins," said Obach. "Although Skretting will not implement the results yet in commercial feeds, they demonstrate a significant potential for extending our use of sustainable fishmeal over a much greater production of farmed Atlantic salmon. Around two-thirds more salmon could be grown from the same volume of fishmeal."
April 20, 2009
