New study confirms Antarctic Krill meal in European Seabass diets improves growth, feed efficiency and liver health status

In a new study, scientists from the Research Group in Aquaculture (GIA) IU-ECOAQUA (Spain) and Aker BioMarine, have found that the replacement of fishmeal by Antarctic krill meal in diets of European sea bass has positive effects on growth performance, feed utilisation and liver metabolism.

In this study, European sea bass were fed a practical diet with either a 15 percent fishmeal content or the same diet substituted by 30 percent or 50 percent Antarctic krill meal for 12 weeks in triplicates. At the end of the feeding trial, growth performance, liver morphology, liver proximate composition, lipid classes and fatty acid profiles, as well as the expression of hepatic genes related with lipid metabolism were evaluated. The study concludes that there are multiple benefits of replacement fishmeal with Antarctic krill meal in diets for marine fish.

'A sustainable growth of the Aquaculture industry implies the use of eco-friendly ingredients as alternative to the traditional marine protein and lipid sources,' says Silvia Torrecillas Senior Researcher at GIA, PhD Fish Nutrition and Health. 'Our results indicate that krill meal inclusion up to 7.5 percent as fishmeal replacer in practical diets for European sea bass improves growth performance, feed utilisation and liver health status'.

Key findings:

• Dietary inclusion of krill meal in low fish meal diets has a positive effect on performance and health of European sea bass juveniles
• Improved fish growth by 20 percent, feed intake and specific growth rate feeding krill derived phospholipids rich in n-3 HUFA (appetite increased)
• Dietary krill meal decreases liver vacuolisation levels and lower sings of steatosis
• Dietary krill meal modulates liver lipid metabolism and may decrease the synthesis of cholesterol levels in European sea bass liver

Overall benefits of replacing fish meal by QRILL Aqua

• Krill meal is rich in proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, phospholipids and astaxanthin
• Omega-3 phospholipids are more effective and important for lipid absorption and transport
• QRILL Aqua helps benefit optimal growth and survival
• It aids in the prevention of skeletal deformities
• It helps with stress resistance
• Associated cost benefits are possible by using QRILL Aqua instead of other feed options

For more than a decade, krill meal has been a sustainable option for improving aquaculture feed quality for farmed fish and shrimp around the world. Being a rich source of omega-3's in phospholipid form, in addition to the well-suited range of amino acids and micro nutrients, krill is by nature a well-suited package of nutrients to support healthy growth in fish. In fact, many studies beyond this study prove the positive effects that krill meal has on the performance and health of fish.

For more information visit the Aker BioMarine website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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