Technology Overview

Fish, like human, needs omega-3 fatty acids for good health. Omega-3 obtain from fish oil of wild fish is insufficient to feed both mankind and aquaculture industry needs. Wild fish has the reputation of having more fish oil than farmed fish.

This research institute has derived a formulation for plant-based fish feed that allows the levels of omega-3 content of farmed fish to be increased to be equivalent to fillets from wild fish. This formulation is designed to be suitable for sustainable aquaculture and it contains algae-derived Omega-3 fatty acids.

Both herbivorous and omnivorous fish consume the feed readily and have shown equal or better growth performance in feed trials when compared to fishmeal-based controls.

This research institute is looking for industry partners who would like to adopt this formulation technique and develop into end use.

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

This formulation has been tested in Recirculating Aquaculture System under laboratory settings. The positive results revealed that Jade Perch fed with the formulated feed produce fillets with fatty acid profiles that show levels of Omega-3 content which are almost equivalent to that from adult wild salmon fillets.

This formulation design

• Is highly digestible
• Able to be used directly its own
• Able to act as a supplement to a feeding regime in an aquaculture system.  
• High in omega-3 fatty acids (algae-derived)
• Has no fishmeal or fish-derived oil component

Key Advantage :

• Easily obtainable plant-based proteins and algae-derived Omega-3 fatty acids.
• Highly digestible, observed to produce a lesser amount of solid fish waste as compared to fishmeal-based controls. Advantage for fish breeding in recirculating aquaculture systems
• Bulk of the protein components are derived from sustainable i.e. low-carbon sources.

Potential Applications

This formulation may be developed into products, and they are :

• Suitable for aquaculture of herbivorous or omnivorous fish species
• Suitable for grown in pond or recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)
• Suitable for freshwater fish

Customer Benefit

Key Benefits of Using this Formulation for Aquaculture :

• Observed to produce a lesser amount of solid fish waste as compared to fishmeal-based controls, an advantage for fish breeding in recirculating aquaculture systems
• Flexibility of using it as direct feed or as supplement
• High in Omega-3 content feed Cost comparable to current fishmeal-based feed
• Enable Sustainable farming (feed is low-carbon sources)