New! IAF article: Spray-dried plasma from porcine blood in diets for Atlantic salmon parrs

In the International Aquafeed article today Enric Gisbert PhD, Research Scientist, IRTA-San Carlos de la Rápita, Spain and Javier Polo, APC Europe SA, Granollers, Spain look at spray-dried plasma from porcine blood in diets for Atlantic salmon parrs.

Since the late 1970s, Atlantic salmon aquaculture has grown into a global industry that annually produces over 1.4 million tonnes of salmon with an estimated value of US$7,812 million according to 2012 FAO statistics. The growth of salmon aquaculture has been accompanied by a continuous improvement in feed formulation and technology to maximise growth and survival of salmon at different stages of development. The search for new and alternative feed ingredients and formulations continues in order to ensure sustainability of this industry. 

A major challenge for the aquaculture feed production industry is to identify and validate stable, predictable and high quality sources of alternative proteins for the manufacture of aqua feeds. In this context, any satisfactory alternative feed ingredient must be able to supply comparable nutritional value at a competitive cost. Global recognition that terrestrial animal by-product meals, especially non-ruminant blood meals and blood products, represent the largest and largely untapped safe source of animal protein available within the international aquafeed industry. 

Despite the fact that blood meal and blood products have been shown to be cost-effective nutrient sources for farmed fish and shrimp, it was estimated that less than five percent of total global manufactured aqua feeds (21 million tonnes in 2005) contained blood meal (2–5% average dietary inclusion level). Blood meal is mainly used as a cost-effective source of highly digestible animal protein, as a fishmeal replacer, and as a pellet colouring agent. 

Read the article online here.