Process Control in Aquafeed Production

Olafur H Jonsson, Managing Director, Tovalia sarl, France

In the growing industry of aquaculture, the demand for fish feed is on the rise.  Efficient use of the raw material as well as optimum use of energy resources becomes more and more important and this means that the need for accurate and instant information from the production process becomes vital.  However, not only is the information useful, but also it is important to know what to do with it.
Process information includes moisture content of the raw material as well as the finished feed.  Also the density of the feed pellets is a vital parameter.   Pellet density is particularly important in fish feed production as it determines how fast the pellet should sink.  Another process parameter which is important is the oil content after coating.
The presentation focuses on the measurement of various parameters and how they can be used to improve the production process in order to increase profitability and reduce wasted energy.

Olafur H Jonsson has a degree in mechanical engineering, with a Masters degree in aquaculture engineering from Scotland.  After graduation Mr. Jonsson spent his professional carrier with companies in Scotland, Iceland and France developing innovative products for the feed and food industry.  He obtained a worldwide patent for a sensor, which instantly measures moisture content of materials such as meal or feed pellets.  Sensors based on this patent have been in use for the last 10 years in the animal feed industry.  Mr. Jonsson received the prestigious Aquafeed Innovation award from Aquafeed.com at the Victam Exhibition in Germany in June 2015.

Functional Feeds – Bad Bug Busters to Reduce the Impact From Disease in Farmed Fish and Shrimp

Dr. Peter Coutteau, Business Unit Manager – Aquaculture, Nutriad International NV, Belgium

Bacterial and viral infections continue to cause disastrous collapses of the aquaculture industry. Import regulations, consumer demands and sustainable management strategies restrict the number of drugs available to treat pathogens. Vaccines are in many fish species still limited and even ineffective in crustaceans, which lack a specific immune system similar to that of vertebrates. Therefore, aquaculture producers must consider genetics, seed stock quality, husbandry procedures and healthy nutrition as key tools to control disease. This talk reports on recent progress in the development of functional feed additives capable of keeping the bad bugs under control in shrimp and fish farming using multiple mode of actions.
Functional feeds containing gut health promotors allow the delivery of an adequate concentration of natural antimicrobial/anti-parasitic activities into the digestive system of fish and shrimp with every meal . These feeds are an important component of any strategy to prevent opportunistic bacterial diseases such as Vibriosis. However, the success of this approach will depend on the efficacy of the selected gut health promotor against the pathogenic bacteria involved. Synergistic blends of natural compounds can be selected on their bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties against a specific range of pathogenic bacteria in vitro. Recent research shows that apart from direct bactericide or bacteriostatic effects, selected combinations of antimicrobial compounds are at the basis of more complex mechanisms to steer microbiota composition, ie Quorum Sensing (QS) disruption

Peter Coutteau obtained a Ph.D. in Biological  Sciences in 1992 at the Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center, University of Gent, on the filter feeding biology of Artemia and bivalves. He continued his research at postdoc level on lipid nutrition of bivalves, fish and shrimp, publishing over 40 refereed  papers in scientific   journals. In 1997 he joined INVE Technologies NV, as head of R&D in the aquaculture division. In 1999, he took up R&D for a new range of premixes and feed additives for grow-out feeds for fish and shrimp. From 2002-2008, he was product  manager farm nutrition for INVE’s Business Unit  Aquaculture, responsible for global product development and customer  service for feed concentrates and   additives for fish/shrimp feedmilling and farming. From 2006-2010, he was the  general manager of the research company Caditec Testing SL (Cadiz, Spain). Since 2009, Dr. Coutteau has been  Manager of Nutriad’s Business Unit  Aquaculture,  directing the product development,  customer service and implementation of sales objectives for a specialized portfolio of aquaculture additives.

Interactions of Extrusion and Ingredients for Aquatic Feeds

Joseph P. Kearns, Vice President Aqua-Feed Div., Wenger Manufacturing, Inc., USA

The extrusion process must produce feeds for various aquatic species, while meeting the specific nutritional needs and the demanding physical characteristics for a wide variety of aquaculture needs.  Typically, producers of aquatic feeds make a range of products for various species.  All of the possible combinations or differences in feeds for a given animal’s life cycle, as well as the overall different species in aquaculture production areas, requires the extrusion cooking device to be controllable with regards to all of the inputs to the system.  Ingredients, energy, pressure, water and steam, oils and the hardware used all need to be coordinated for final product characteristic control.  Feed sizes, densities, sinking rates, water stability, pellet hardness, water absorption and cell structure are just a few topics that come up when discussing an exacting feed for specific animals.  It is actually amazing how one machine has the ability to handle all of the above.  Extrusion is greatly enhanced by advanced control systems and effective tools to manage the feed production cycle.

Joseph P. Kearns is a graduate of Kansas State University and has been employed by Wenger for more than 40 years. He has spent a career watching and being involved in the feed production in the aquaculture sector.   He holds nine U.S. and foreign patents on aquatic topics relating to extrusion cooking. He has authored numerous publications on aquatic feed production as well as made presentations around the world.      

Durable sinking fish feed with low starch formulations and an example with insect meal as alternative protein

Urs Wüst, Director Product Management Aquafeed & Petfood, Business Unit Nutrition, Bühler AG, Switzerland

Formulations are changing and the level of starch is getting lower as well as the level of fishmeal. Fishmeal is being replaced by other protein sources, such as for example, different kind of gluten, soy bean meal and soy concentrates or peas. Depending on the quality of fishmeal, starch inclusions are varied and the extrusion process has to be adjusted accordingly in order to get the correct cook.

The physical quality requirements remain the same or are even increasing today due to the behavior of the different ingredients in the raw material and the changes in formulation.

The potential of using insect meals in fish feed diets show promising prospects.

Available studies indicate that a partial replacement of fishmeal will occur in the short or medium term.

In an extrusion trial with marine feed we have replaced the fishmeal with insect meal (Hermetia - black soldier fly meal) and show some data and processing conditions for optimal cooking and bulk density.

Urs Wüst is the Director Product Management Aquafeed & Petfood   for the Business Unit Nutrition, Bühler AG, Switzerland.  Until 2014, he was responsible for the market segment Aqua Feed and before for the technology and R&D for the market segments Feed, Petfood and Aquafeed. Mr. Wüst worked for more than ten years in Japan and Korea in sales, engineering and customer service as  Manager Feed Technology & Extrusion Systems at Bühler Japan. Prior to that he was Product Manager Food & Feed for analytical equipment at Büchi Lab-technology Switzerland, responsible for strategy, worldwide sales and development of new equipment. He was also Project Manager Feed & Oil Milling at Bühler Belgium, South Africa and Switzerland and Feed milling engineer at the Swiss Institute of Feed Technology (SFT).

Plant Extracts in Aquaculture Feeds: From Modes of Action to Practical Application

Clementine Oguey, Aqua Product Expert, PANCOSMA & Associates

The term plant extracts usually refers to components naturally occurring in plants, and namely regroups true plant extract such as essential oils or oleoresins, and nature identical molecules. These additives commonly suffer from a lack of transparency in the commercially available products and an inconsistency in their contents in active molecules, explaining the great discrepancy of activity between products containing similar compounds. However, as long as the additives considered have standardized formula and manufacturing process, their mode of action at recommended dosage can be consistently elucidated. This consequently explains the beneficial effects of these products on performance and health.

Historically, the effect of plant extracts is based on their antimicrobial activity. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of these compounds remain much higher than the standard dosages recommended in animal diets. This suggests that the effect of these products is not associated to a direct antimicrobial activity and highlights the importance to test them at their recommended dosage.

Well defined plant extracts such as standardized capsicum, turmeric oleoresins or cinnamaldehyde have been shown to modulate immunity at reduced levels and affected the systemic immune response of animals challenged with bacteria or viruses. The clarification of the mode of action of single plant extract associated to comparative physiology enable to develop combinations targeting specific applications.

Under standard animal production practices, the beneficial impact of these plant extracts on gut immune modulation can explain their efficacy to consistently improve gut function and subsequent fish resistance to disease and performance.

Plant extracts generally suffer from a lack of consistency to improve productive performance of target species. Consecutive trials demonstrated that compared to a negative control, a blend of three specific phytocomponents consistently increased body weight gain by and reduced feed conversion ratio in tilapia.

In addition to this beneficial impact on productive performance, the gut immunity effect of some plant extracts can also be exploited to increase the resistance of aqua species to diseases induced for example by bacteria.

Despite common belief, well defined and standardized plant extracts based feed additives are good tools to improve health and performance in current aqua production systems. The extended knowledge of the primary effects of these compounds opens new fields of utilization. However, the nutritional application of such products also involves taking into account gut physiology, immunology and microbiology, and farm practices.

Clementine Oguey received her B.S. degree in animal nutrition, and M.S. degree in Agro-food and health from ISAB, a French university specializing in agricultural engineering. Following her graduation in 2006, she joined Pancosam's R&D department in Geneva, Switzerland, where she currently works as a Technical Expert, focusing on the XTRACT® range of plant extract-based products, for all animals, including aquatic species. Her role is to coordinate all field trials worldwide, to provide technical support, as well as to publish scientific articles and participate in international conferences. She has been working on the practical application of plant extract based feed additives in aqua species for three years.