Promising fatty acid in fish feed

The bioactive fatty acid TTA in fish feed can have an extremely positive effect on fish health, says Norwegian business oriented research group Nofima. A fresh doctoral thesis points to the fact that it has a similar effect on the heart as exercise. Fabian Grammes at Nofima has studied the use of tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA) in feed for Atlantic salmon smolt in sea cages.

Trials during a natural outbreak of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) showed a significantly lower mortality rate of Atlantic salmon that were fed the TTA supplemented diet than salmon which were not. Grammes also observed increased relative heart weight and increased cardiac gene expression six weeks after TTA feeding ended. In addition, the study indicates that TTA increases the expression of genes that regulate the immune system. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers