Part of the blue transition!

The global population is continuing to grow in the coming years. This growing population will require more food, whilst the earth is already challenged. Within Nukamel we are always looking at concepts that can lead to more sustainable ways of food production.

Globally, aquaculture has been pointed out as the main focus to produce high-quality, sustainable food. Fish and shrimp are known for their health benefits, with excellent feed efficiencies.

Yet, there is still a lot to improve and Nukamel is involved in even further improving the productivity and sustainability of fish and shrimp aquaculture production. Together we can guide the blue transition!

R&D-based nutrition

Volamel Extra Aqua to reduce dependency on fish oil

Fish oil is an essential source of fat in aquafeed. However, fish oil has a limited availability and is often way more expensive compared to alternatives. Next to that, the usage of fish oil is linked to less sustainable aquafeed production, compared to diets with alternative oils. These are a few of the reasons to reduce the use of fish oil in aquafeed.

Nukamel developed Volamel Extra Aqua to cope with the challenge of fish oil reduction. In a trial with European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) we managed to reduce fish oil in the diet, whilst maintaining growth performance.

Increase white leg shrimp productivity and profitability

White leg shrimp production is one of the fastest-growing animal protein sources globally. With an average growth in volume of 9 to 10% annually over the past 15 years, the expectation is that the volumes of shrimp aquaculture production will continue to increase.

Some of the reasons for the big growth in shrimp production volumes are the good export numbers and shrimp prices. The digestive tract of shrimp is quite immature, and could use all the help it can get. Nukamel has tested Volamel Extra Aqua in shrimp to assist fat digestion and absorption, in order to improve feed efficiency. With the addition of Volamel Extra Aqua in the feed, it is possible to increase productivity significantly, which leads to increased profitability as well.

A nutritional emulsifier to cope with heath stress

In a time with climate change more extreme temperatures in the water are observed. Extreme low and high temperatures are threatening the fish in sea cages all across the globe. Extreme temperature changes are often followed by a loss in feed intake, growth, feed efficiency, animal health and animal welfare.

One of the changes that fish can undergo is a disruption of the gut microbiome, which will be less healthy for the animal. Opportunistic, often disease causing, bacteria are growing in numbers under chronic heath stress, which is shown in some experiments with marine fish. With Volamel Extra Aqua it is shown that the gut microbiome changes can be reversed, leading to a healthier gut and fish.