Research area 4: Aquafeed development

Researcher in charge:

Prof Björn Thrandur Björnsson, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Challenges

Mariculture feeds in open systems contribute significantly to organic pollution, and are still to a significant degree based on raw materials from capture fisheries, thus potentially contributing to the overfishing of wild stocks. Current alternative ingredients are mainly from terrestrial plant sources and therefore compete for both freshwater and land resources as well as directly with the human consumption or animal husbandry market. Consequently, aquaculture is exposed to large changes in availability and price of feed ingredients, amplifying the economic vulnerability of the sector, where feed accounts for over 50 percent of the production cost. From a biological perspective, mariculture feeds are often poorly tailored to meet species and life-stage specific nutritional needs, resulting in risk for reduced growth efficiency, animal health and welfare.

Objectives and expected outcomes

• To identify new, marine raw materials, especially non-food alternatives from low-trophic level organisms in the circular production systems (RA3) and from underutilized byproduct sources.
• To develop methods for extraction of high quality nutrients from these raw materials.
• To use these nutrients for development of novel mariculture feeds, tailor-made to the specific nutritional needs of aquaculture species and life stages.
• To evaluate species/stage-specific quality of mariculture feeds in terms of growth efficiency and their promotion of animal health and welfare.
• To improve aquaculture economics, resilience and environmental performance by creating a more diverse basket of feed ingredients for resource- and growth-efficient feed.

Participating researchers

Prof Thrandur Björnsson, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Prof Kristina Sundell, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Dr Elisabeth Jönsson Bergman, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Dr Henrik Sundh, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Dr Jonathan Roques, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Dr Markus Langeland, Dept Biol Env Sci & Dept Anim Nutr Man, SLU
Doktorand Ida Hedén, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Doktorand Niklas Warwas, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Postdoc James Hinchcliffe, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Forskningsing Dr Linda Frank Hasselberg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences