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.

Advances in Amino Acid Nutrition of Shrimp

Dr. Alexandros Samartzis, Regional Technical Sales Manager, Evonik (SEA)

Alexandros Samartzis¹, Dhanapong Sangsue¹, Cláudia Figueiredo-Silva² and Girish Channarayapatna¹

¹Animal Nutrition, Evonik Industries, Singapore; ²Animal Nutrition, Evonik Industries, Germany;

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In 2013, total aquaculture production was 97.2 million tonnes globally that translates to 157.27 billion US$ with an annual percentage rate of 8.1% per annum. While Asian aquaculture production contributed to 91.78% of total world production with an impressive growth rate of 6.9% during 2013. In commercial aquaculture practices, feeds are responsible for the biggest share of the production cost which can be up to 80% in many cases. Fish meal (FM) is considered as an excellent source of nutrients (balanced amino acid profiles, essential fatty acids, and mineral content) and for that reason was the key ingredient in aquaculture feeds. Due to its high and increasing cost, nutritionists emphasize on reducing dependence and finding alternative protein sources to replace FM. Crustaceans attribute for the major share of about 28% of the total use of FM in aquaculture. During the last years, significant information were generated regarding the digestibility of nutrients including amino acids (AA) of practical ingredients. These data, allows the nutritionists to have better understanding of nutrient digestibility coefficients in order to formulate diets that meet the requirements of the defined production target (without being restricted by the limitations that FM imposes). The slow feeding behaviour of crustaceans such as, whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), is an extra challenge that has to be addressed. The objective of this review is to present the available data on amino acid recommendations and digestibility co-efficients for whiteleg shrimp for an optimal but cost effective diet. The latest numerous up-to-date experimental studies indicate that FM substitution with alternative protein sources do not affect the growth, survival and feed conversion ratio of shrimp, as long as nutrient composition, including amino acid profile, are balanced to cover the specie’s requirements. The digestibility coefficient of crude protein and individual AA of many ingredients will be presented in detail. Finally, all the recent advances in the AA nutrition of shrimp will explained alongside the solutions to the challenges of the complicated feeding behaviour of crustaceans.

Dr. Alexandros Samartzis works for Evonik (SEA) Pte. Ltd. as a Technical Sales Manager for the Southeast Asia region specialized in Aquaculture and based in Singapore. My academic qualifications are; PhD in Aquaculture nutrition from Plymouth University in UK as well as an MRes in applied fish biology and an MBA from the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. 

GART as a Platform to Investigate Disease Control Strategies Against AHPND/EMS in Shrimp

Dr. Niu Yufeng, research Scientist, Aqua UGent, Belgium

AHPND/EMS is currently one of the most devastating diseases in shrimp farms which occurs typically within 30 days of stocking in grow-out ponds and causes mortality up to 100%. This disease has a bacterial etiology and its causative agent has been identified as member of the Vibrio harveyi clade, most closely related to V. parahaemolyticus.

Recent research at the University of Ghent has shown that GART, the Gnotobiotic ARTemia platform, is a valuable pre-assessment tool to validate in vitro findings before testing on a large scale with shrimp. This model uses the brine shrimp (Artemia) under sterile conditions and provides a high-throughput and low-cost screening platform which, in combination with a number of Vibrio strains with virulence gradient, allows to investigate diverse disease control strategies under highly controlled conditions.

Dr. Niu Yufeng currently works as a post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center of Ghent University and is also involved in aquaculture business development between Europe and China for Aqua UGent.

As a joint PhD between Ghent University and Ocean University of China, Michael focused on the research of microbial management in the aquaculture industry and facilitated the collaboration between the two universities. During his PhD, microorganisms in the aquatic system were the core of his research. He studied the immunostimulatory effects of microbes leading to more robust animals against pathogen infections.

Feed for The Future: The Challenges and Opportunities for A Better and Sustainable Aquaculture Industry

Dr. M A Kabir Chowdhury, Global Product Manager - Aquaculture, Jefo Nutrition Inc.

The global fed aquaculture has been growing at a much faster rate than any other industry for the better part of the last three decades. In recent years, there are signs of sluggishness mainly because of lower than expected growth in China. Too many species, lack of better genetics and limited information on nutritional requirements of most of these species at various life stages has been a major bottleneck for the industry worldwide. In addition, increasing price of common feed ingredients, lack of quality feed stuffs, poor characterization of their nutrient profiles, poor understandings of anti-nutrients, lack of industry wide standard, poor labeling, and resistance to change or to accept innovative ideas, technologies and products are also some of the major contributing factors. The aqua feed industry could play a major role to reverse the trend in partnerships with the farming community and public institutions. The industry needs to invest significantly to improve the knowledge base on nutritional requirements, ingredient characterization and screening, and to educate the farming community. At the same time, local, regional or national governments should engage themselves in formulating, incorporating, implementing and enforcing policies on proper labeling, labour practices, environmental management, raw material standards, use of antibiotics and other chemicals, and other important issues.

To combat the continuing crises of quality raw materials, maintaining optimum environment and health, and for better production, plethora of products are available and new products are being developed almost every day in an already crowded marketplace. Similar to selecting a raw material, a due diligence needs to be given in screening these products. Most additives available for the industry today were originally developed for other terrestrial animals. From feed manufacturers’ and farmers’ perspectives, choosing a product should depend on species, farming conditions, and finally, the manufacturing parameters. This presentation discusses types of solutions currently available for various challenges being faced by feed manufacturers and farmers including some suggestions for a profitable and sustainable industry.

With broad knowledge and more than 20 years of field experience in  aquaculture production management and nutrition,  Kabir Chowdhury's  academic and research  excellence are reflected in numerous scientific communications published in various outlets.  He received his PhD in Animal Nutrition from the UG/OMNR Fish Nutrition Research Laboratory (FNRL) of the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and MSc from the Asian Institute of Technology of Thailand.

At his current position with Jefo Nutrition Inc., an animal feed additive company from Canada, he manages the worldwide aquaculture program for the organization.

Effect of an Algo-Clay Based Biocatalyst on the Digestive and Growth Performance of Juvenile Shrimp (L. Vannamei)

Maarten Jay van Schoonhoven, Aqua BU manager, Olmix, France

Vibriosis has long been one of the important causes for diseases in aquaculture, causing damage all along the shrimp production cycle. Vibrio bacteria occur commonly in the culture environment of shrimp, yet using good management practices can help limiting the vibrio outbreaks. Still there is continuous search for natural ways to control vibrio during shrimp culture. Olmix has developed a product associating clay and algae extracts, which aims at the improvement of shrimp performance through boosting digestive enzyme activity and improving the digestive balance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of this algae-clay mix supplementation on the digestive- and growth performance of L. vannamei. A lab scale test, at a University research facility in Thailand, showed a significant improvement in FCR and a significant increase in survival for shrimp groups fed the algae-clay mix supplemented diet. Histopathology showed reduced amounts of Vibrio in the hepatopancreas of shrimp fed diets supplemented with the algae-clay mix. This study highlights the capacity of algae-clay mix to improve the overall digestive efficiency and the gut health, resulting in a better growth performance.

Maarten Jay van Schoonhoven has worked for various companies involved in aquaculture in Europe, USA and Thailand. After starting with sales and account managing he was able to successfully introduce new products in different aquaculture markets. This involved working closely between the end users and the R&D group to find the best product and the best possible application. He recently joined Olmix to introduce their product range into the aquaculture market.

Pre-Processing of Feedstuffs to Improve their Feeding Value for Aquaculture Feeds

Dr. Dominique P. Bureau, Professor, University of Guelph, Canada

The agriculture, food and bio-fuel sectors produce numerous co-products or by-products and some undervalorized waste streams. There are opportunities to make use of undervalued products or waste streams or to improve the nutritive and economical values of existing feed ingredients. The presentation will review several recent attempts made at the University of Guelph to study the effectiveness of simple and potentially cost-effective techniques for processing feedstuffs of plant, microbial and animal origins prior to their incorporation in animal feeds. The perspectives and pitfalls for these approaches will be discussed.

Dominique P Bureau is a well-established research scientist with over 25 years’ experience in aquaculture nutrition. He has lead a dynamic research group, the Fish Nutrition Research Laboratory, at the University of Guelph since 2000, collaborating with numerous academic research groups, aquafeed manufacturers, ingredient suppliers and funding and regulatory agencies across the world and supervising a team composed of about 20 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research assistants. 

Bonus Presentation

ASC’s Feed Standard progress: first public comment period has opened

- Michiel Fransen, Standards & Certification Coordinator, Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC),Utrecht, The Netherlands

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent not-for-profit certification & labelling program that promotes responsible practise in aquaculture. Next to the current ASC Farm Standards, ASC is also developing a Feed Standard for which feed mills can get certified. Within this project, ASC is developing a standard that sets requirements for sourcing of responsibly produced ingredients for fish feed. This is a multi-stakeholder project, with over 50 people involved in several committees. The expected release date is Q1-2016. Currently the initial draft is open for public feedback.

Student Registration

Student Rates at 8th Aquafeed Horizons

In the spirit of supporting aquaculture education, we are offering a 75% discount to bona fide students at Aquafeed Horizons 2015, taking place in Cologne, Germany, June 9, 2015. 
Please help spread the word to any student who may benefit from this opportunity. 
Registration closes May 31. 
Registration and details at http://feedconferences.com

AQUAFEED HORIZONS 2015 ~ PRESENTATIONS & SPEAKERS

AQUAFEED HORIZONS 2015

June 9, 2015, Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany.

PRESENTATION OUTLINES

Towards Sustainable Feed and Food for the World – Working Together with International Organizations

Alexandra de Athayde, Executive Director, International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF), Germany

IFIF is a global organization of national and regional feed associations, feed related organizations, and corporations from around the globe. Together, IFIF represents over 80% of the animal feed production worldwide. In 2015 compound feed production will likely reach close to 1 billion tonnes worldwide. The FAO estimates that by 2050 the demand for food will grow by 60 % and that between 2010 and 2050 production of animal proteins is expected to grow by around 1.7% per year, with aquaculture production increasing by 90%. IFIF believes that only by working together with all stakeholders can we meet these challenges and take advantage of the growth opportunities for our industry in a sustainable way.

Alexandra  de  Athayde  is  Executive  Director  of  the  International  Feed  Industry  Federation (IFIF), a post she has held since her appointment in April 2011. IFIF’s members from around the world represent over 80% of the total global animal feed production. Ms. de Athayde has extensive agriculture and international experience  representing the industry with governments and businesses. She previously held positions within the Monsanto Company Corporate Affairs Department in Brazil, the US and Europe.  She  has  also  worked  for  the  Brazilian  Government  as  Adviser  to  the  Deputy  Minister of Agriculture and as Adviser to the Foreign Trade Secretary. Ms. de Athayde holds an International Executive M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, USA and a B.A. degree in International Relations from York University in Canada.

Ingredient Selection and Extrusion Parameters for Aquatic Feeds

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

Ingredients are always changing due mainly to availability or costs, but there are also variations in ingredient quality.  As many aquatic feeds move towards the use of vegetable and other novel ingredients, the extrusion task at hand is to maintain quality at the higher production rates with lower levels of starch inclusion. When pushing the limits on all boundaries the process becomes a challenge.  Generally the situations can be dealt with - but something usually needs to give. Trends in production methods, both of hardware and running conditions, are allowing for wider ranges of non-traditional ingredients or ones of lower quality. Reviewing ingredient quality and the extrusion process will give insights on balancing the system.    

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 US 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.      

Effect of Extrusion Technology on Physical and Nutritional Quality of Extruded Fish Feed

Urs Wuest, Director Market Segment Aquafeed, Bühler AG, Switzerland

The effect of extrusion technology on physical and nutritional quality of extruded fish feed will be addressed. Mr. Wuest will explain the roles of the pre-conditioner, of die design and of density control, a critical variable if fish feed production that  effects pellet buoyancy, floating and sinking characteristics, oil impregnation during the coating process and factory capacity.

Density and SME controllers can help to make floating, slow sinking and sinking pellets. These devices reduce the need for changing the screw configuration and provides control on shear stress, specific mechanical energy and extrusion pressure. The controllers can also be connected to the extruder control system to automatically adjusted and maintain the process conditions to its chosen set-point in order to make aqua feed with a wide range of bulk densities.

Urs Wuest is the Director of the Market Segment Aquafeed at Bühler, Uzwil, Switzerland.  Until 2010, he was responsible for technology and R&D for the market segments Feed, Petfood and Aquafeed. Mr. Wüst worked for more than 10 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).

Future Possibilities and Demands in Salmon Feed Production

Dr. Mari Moren, Director of Nutrition and Feed Technology, Nofima AS, Norway

The Norwegian government would like to see a five-fold increase on today’s aquaculture production by 2050. A similar increase in feed production is therefore required. Known barriers are the limited access to marine raw materials and incomplete understanding of the salmon’s nutritional requirements. Currently, many “new” ingredients are developed and tested in the search for those that can be viable in terms of availability and cost. The government also says that the growth should meet environmental, social and economic sustainability demands. This presentation will aim to give a view on the future demands in salmon feed production and present possibilities from the viewpoint of a research institute working on R&D throughout the whole value chain in aquaculture.

Mari Moren is Director of Research at the food research institute Nofima. She is responsible for Nutrition and Feed Technology, which is one of the research areas in the Division Aquaculture. This area encompasses research, development and innovation projects along the complete aquaculture value chain, with a special focus on research into new feed raw materials, feed technology and questions related to nutrition. Dr. Moren holds a Ph.D. in nutrition from University of Bergen (2004) and has 15 years of experience in fish nutrition research.

 

Aqua feed extrusion line optimization. Process automation as key to secure consistent aqua feed quality and cost efficient operation

Nicolai Nexus, Manager of Automation, Andritz Feed & Biofuel A/S, Denmark

Most aqua feed process plants are making a wide variety of specialized feeds with very exact properties in terms of specific pellet size, density, moisture content, and texture. All to be made from a wide range of formulas, and based on feed ingredients of different origin, further influenced by seasonal availability and maturation.

Further most plant are producing the feeds “just in time” to secure freshest possible feeds to the aquaculture farms. This often leads to requirements for frequent changes in products and short runs.

Efficient automation systems for the entire extrusion process line, extruder, dryer, coater and cooler are key to repetitively secure quick start-ups to reach maximum capacity at the desired - and consistent quality and with less dependency from the human factor. Further the process statistics derived from automation systems provides essential knowledge in support of trimming the process line, optimizing line efficiency and costs of production.

On-line connections allows for remote monitoring, best practice sharing, and long-distance support. 

 

Practical Manufacturing Constraints and Their Impact on Feed Formulation Resource Allocation Models 

Ian Mealey, Head of Operations, Format International, U.K.

Traditionally, feed formulation tools have primarily focused on nutrition and resource allocation decisions as the driver for their output. Issues that affect the actual manufacturing of the feeds designed by these tools have been difficult to adequately incorporate. These issues include weighing constraints, effects of ingredients on quality, throughput and energy use and silo availability. This presentation will discuss optimization techniques that are now becoming available and offer the formulator the ability to more accurately model these aspects alongside nutritional and ingredient purchasing parameters, in a more holistic approach. This capability will inevitably have a positive feedback on the measurement of ingredient value and subsequent resource allocation decisions.

Ian Mealey has 25 years’ experience in the feed industry; first as a formulator within a large UK feed business, and then with Format International. He has worked in a consultancy role for many years and with many different clients around the world in various sectors, for the practical application of formulation software to improve profitability and efficiency in these businesses. Ian is particularly enthusiastic about formulation software’s capability in the area of resource planning and risk evaluation.

Innovating by Experience - Ideas and Cases          

Dr. Olav Fjeld Kraugerud, Manager, Centre for Feed Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway

The constraints and challenges of aquaculture open up a lot of opportunities. However cost, combined with the volumes in the sector, create incentives for only incremental improvements. As most needs have been defined regarding EAA and EFA, the floor is wide open to ingredient suppliers because they know what to overcome. Based on all the different variations in the ingredients pool, a new or alternative protein concentrate could potentially be included at the rate of 5 – 25%.  Examples from trials performed with krill meal, gluten and plant meals will be shown. A feed recipe with a diversified protein portfolio could benefit from tailor-made processing. But would this be realistic? Data of such trials undertaken at the Centre will be shown. An exciting new and innovative tool created for feed production will be revealed.

Dr. Olav Fjeld Kraugerud  leads the Centre for Feed Technology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway. In this role he works with customers in both academia and industry. The challenge of always making feed in new ways leads to innovation, as new demands are imposed on both hardware and processes.   As a previous scientist at the Aquaculture Protein Centre in Norway, Dr. Kraugerud was one of the demanding customers of the Centre from 2004 to 2012. In his thesis, he mainly examined the processing of novel ingredients, especially the carbohydrate fraction, and studied their nutritional effects. He received his PhD in 2008.

Advanced Research Initiatives for Nutrition &Aquaculture (ARRAINA): Fine tuning the delivery

Dr. Jorge Dias, Co-Owner & General Manager, Sparos Lda, Portugal

Results will be presented from the Advanced Research Initiatives for Nutrition & Aquaculture (ARRAINA) project, a European FP7-funded Collaborative Project coordinated by INRA and associating 21 institutions, among which are nine industrial partners. 

The overall objective of the ARRAINA project is develop sustainable alternative aquaculture feeds tailored to the nutritional requirements of the five main European farmed fish species, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio), over their full life cycles, with reduced levels of fish meal and fish oil; and assess the long term physiological consequences by applying targeted integrative tools that accurately measure and predict the effects of alternative feeds on fish metabolism and health. The project is using these tools to develop alternative feeds and novel delivery vectors for early life stages of fish and study the long-term effects of these alternative feeds on metabolism, performance, quality and waste management over the full life-cycle (from egg to broodstock). ARRAINA is also exploring the concept of nutritional programming in fish.

Dr. Jorge Dias will focus on new knowledge generated on the fine tuning of the dietary supply of trace elements in larvae and juvenile feeds, relying on the use of innovative delivery vectors such as microencapsulated and nano-sized mineral forms and a closer look on the interactions among trace elements and other nutrients. Activities on the effect of vegetable ingredients on physical pellet criteria and fecal properties will be discussed. A predictive tool to compare the environmental impact (total, N and P waste) of different feed formulations developed for gilthead seabream will also be presented.     

Dr. Jorge Dias, together with Luis Conceição are the managing partners of SPAROS Lda, a technology-driven SME dedicated to the development of new products and tailored nutritional solutions for the aquaculture market. Jorge Dias has a PhD in Fish Nutrition and expertise in feed technology; feed formulation; the practical use of novel ingredients and feed additives. Prior to SPAROS, Jorge Dias was a researcher at both Academia (INRA-IFREMER, France; CCMAR, Portugal) and Industry (DSM Nutritional Products, France).

 

Acidifier Concepts in Aquafeed: Technical and Functional Considerations

Tilman Wilke, Product Developer, Dr. Eckel GmbH, Niederzissen, Germany

 

The concept of acidifiers has been successfully transferred from agriculture feed to aquaculture feed. We want to share our experience on some important technical and functional aspects of this transfer.

Acidifiers as functional feed additives are a well-proven concept in feed for agriculture animals. Acidifiers have the ability to preserve feed, to improve feed conversion and to reduce pathogen pressure. The basic approach is to include organic acids and their salts in the feed. While organic acids are preservatives and are used as such, there is also a high interest in their nutritive value and the impact on pathogen cells and gut epithelial cells. Scientific studies and practical experience in the field have shown that organic acids can improve performance and health in livestock. Although acidifiers are usually easy to handle, organic acids can lead to problems in the feed manufacturing process. When organic acids are used in its reactive form, unexpected exogenous chemical reactions can occur during the mixing process and they can lead so severe corrosion of silos, floorings, pipes, conveyors and roofings. Therefore we have optimized our acidifier formulas to use non-reactive calcium salts of organic acids to prevent this.

Tilman Wilke is a product developer at Dr. Eckel, with a focus on aquaculture feed. His job is to find innovative solutions for our customers’ challenges and to bridge the gap between new academic concepts and practical customer requirements, keeping in mind the global challenges in animal feed production. He studied veterinary medicine until 2009 with a growing interest in the interfaces and borderlines between veterinary science and animal production. After graduation he went to an agricultural faculty to work as a research assistant. In 2014 he joined Dr Eckel, one of the leading feed additive producers in Germany.

Program subject to change.

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Early registration strongly advised.
Register now on the conference website: www.feedconferences.com
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WATT Global Media to present FIAAP Conferences beginning in 2015

Beginning in 2015 Feed International magazine, a WATT Global Media brand, will produce the FIAAP Feed Ingredients and Additives Conferences. These conferences focus on the rapidly-growing feed ingredient and additive industry and are co-located with VICTAM International and VICTAM Asia events, the world's largest international events for animal feed ingredients and processing technology, biomass pelleting systems, flour milling and grain processing. The FIAAP Conferences have been produced by Aquafeed.com since 2008.
 
The first FIAAP Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand, and attracted more than 100 delegates from major animal feed companies throughout Asia Pacific and the world. The growth and popularity of the FIAAP Conferences since 2008—both in Bangkok, Thailand, and Cologne, Germany— are a testament to its success in providing a forum for information on advances in feed additives, ingredients and formulation solutions.
 
"The FIAAP Conference is a successful and established feature of the international animal feed industry. The time has come to enter the next stage of development and I am confident WATT Global Media is the company to take it forward,” said Suzi Dominy, proprietor and publisher of Aquafeed.com, LLC.  “With the company’s Feed International resources and market reach in the terrestrial animal feed industries, WATT Global Media is well positioned to exploit the groundwork we established and to fully develop the potential of the conference. It is in safe and capable hands.”
 
"Although we have animal feed and nutrition experience and expertise within the company, Aquafeed.com's strength is aquaculture feed: this is our passion and where we have leadership. This move away from a primarily animal feed meeting is In line with our strategy to focus exclusively on our publications, conferences and technical consulting in the aquafeed sector," Dominy said.

“Our entire team is excited for this new opportunity to utilize our industry expertise to educate animal feed professionals in a live event setting,” said Greg Watt, President/CEO of WATT Global Media. “We are looking forward to expanding our live event portfolio to include the FIAAP Conferences and better serving the innovation needs of the growing feed ingredients and additives segment of the industry.”
 
The 6^th annual FIAAP International Conference will take place June 9, 2015, in Cologne, Germany, and will be co-located with VICTAM International together with the 8^th Aquafeed Horizons Conference on June 9, 2015, and Petfood Forum Europe on June 10, 2015.
 
The 2015 VICTAM International event, the 50^th Anniversary of the VICTAM Exhibition, will once again combine the FIAAP, VICTAM and GRAPAS exhibitions (and their respective conferences) under one roof at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, June 9-11, 2015.

Aquafeed Horizons Asia 2014 - SOLD OUT

The conference is now fully booked.

A week left to register for Aquafeed Horizons

Asia Pacific's dedicated aquafeed conference takes place April 8, 2014 during the FIAAP/Victam/Grapas Asia trade shows.
Join your fellow professionals from the aquafeed industry to learn about latest advances in feed formulation options and processing - hear international experts - visit the trade show - Register now!
Details: http://www.feedconferences.com.

Bangkok Returns to Normal as Disturbances Fall Away

“Thailand is to lift its state of emergency on Wednesday 19th March, as tensions ease following weeks of anti-government protests.Officials say the emergency decree will be replaced by the Internal Security Act.
The 60-day emergency decree, imposed on 22 January in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, gave the government wide-ranging powers to deal with disorder.
The protesters, who began their campaign in November, accused the government of being run by ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, Ms Yingluck's brother.
At the height of the demonstrations, protesters shut down key road junctions in Bangkok and blockaded government ministries.
Numbers have fallen in recent weeks, however, and the protesters are now mainly occupying a city-centre park.” - Source BBC, Tuesday 18th March 2014.

Now is the time to come to Bangkok. As well as Aquafeed Horizons and the FIAAP Conference you can visit FIAAP, VICTAM & GRAPAS Asia 2014 exhibitions and a number of other conferences as well as the first ASEAN Feed & Rice Symposium. Victam organizers say they have record pre-registrations and sold out shows.
Visit – www.victam.com to find out more - On the website you can take advantage of the preferential airline and hotel deals that are now on offer and use Victam's visa service if necessary.

PRe-registration for Aquafeed Horizons Asia and the FIAAP Conference closes in two weeks. Register now at www.feedconferences.com

Organic acids as a functional feed additive in the commercial feeds of tilapia and marine shrimp

It is common practice in the aquaculture industry to use large amounts of antibiotics following the discovery of its growth promoting and disease fighting capabilities. In view of the current greater restrictions or ban on antibiotic use, there is a critical need to evaluate alternatives. One potential substitute for antibiotic growth promoters in feeds is organic acids. Organic acids such as benzoic, formic, lactic and propionic acids have traditionally been used as storage preservatives for food and feed ingredients due to their antimicrobial properties. Even though organic acids are used extensively in the feeds of livestock, not much is known about the beneficial effects of these functional additives in aquaculture feeds.

Several laboratory-based feeding trials were conducted on white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and various tilapia strains (Oreochromis spp.). Proof of concept was established for dietary organic acids in their beneficial impact on the growth performance, nutrient utilization, immune response and disease resistance of these farmed aquatic animals. Due to these encouraging laboratory results, a pre-commercialization technology grant was awarded by the Malaysian government to develop a prototype organic acids product for use in aquafeeds as an alternative to antibiotics. In collaboration with Sunzen Feedtech Ltd., a pilot plant was constructed in 2012 to produce a novel microencapsulated organic acids blend using centrifugal spray cooling technology. Organic acids were spray-chilled with a unique lipid coating for slow release in the gut of the farmed aquatic animal and this new product is called Orgacids™-AQUA.

In collaboration with Gold Coin Specialities Ltd., a major Asian multinational shrimp feed producer, we conducted a field trial in a commercial tiger shrimp farm. The commercially manufactured shrimp feeds contained either no added Orgacids or 2% Orgacids. The mean total bacterial count and Vibrio spp. count in the pond water of shrimp fed the 2% Orgacids feed were generally lower compared to the control pond. Disease challenge tests with Vibrio harveyi showed that shrimp fed the organic acid supplemented feeds had significantly higher survival due to enhanced immune response and less hepatopancreatic damage. Nutrient utilization was enhanced and Vibrio counts were lowered in the hepatopancreas and gut of shrimp fed the Orgacids feed.

In collaboration with Cargill Feed Ltd., a field trial was conducted with Nile tilapia in a large commercial tilapia farm. Duplicate cages of tilapia were fed starter and grower feeds without any added organic acids or 2% Orgacids-AQUA. Total fish mortality in cages fed the organic acids added feeds were lower despite less antibiotics being used compared to the control cages. The immune response of tilapia fed the organic acids added feeds was significantly enhanced. 

The potential growth promoting efficacy of dietary organic acids in shrimp and tilapia is encouraging. The ability of organic acids to protect shrimp and tilapia from vibriosis and streptococcal infections, respectively, is a new discovery.

Professor Wing-Keong Ng

Professor Wing-Keong Ng received his Masters degree in Aquaculture from the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand), PhD in Nutrition from the University of California (Davis, USA) and a post-doctoral fellowship at Mississippi State  University (USA). He has been a Visiting  Scientist to the University of Stirling (Scotland, UK) and the University of Tasmania and CSIRO (Australia).  Currently he is a Professor with Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has published extensively in the area of aquaculture nutrition and is on the editorial board of several international and regional journals.  He is an active consultant to various international aquaculture organizations and aquafeed-related companies.

Novacq – commercializing the paradigm shift in shrimp nutrition

Since 2002, CSIRO in Australia has been working on the production of a novel bioactive feed ingredient which not only has been demonstrated to increase growth rate in shrimp from between 20 to 40%, and provide protection to some known pathogens but can also reduce  dependence on expensive and potentially unsustainable marine resources. This ingredient called Novacq^TM is soon to be commercialized for inclusion into shrimp diets. The Australian feed company Ridley Aqua-Feed, which has commercialization rights in Australia and some SE Asian countries, is now embarking on the next stage of this exciting project.

This presentation describes Novacq^TM , summarizes the results obtained when incorporating it into shrimp diets under both laboratory and commercial conditions,  outlines the challenging path to commercialization of the product into the global shrimp culture industry and the game changing implications this could have on the sustainability of the industry into the future.

Dr. Matthew Briggs, Technical Project Manager – Novacq Commercialization, Ridley AgriProducts Pty. Ltd., Australia

Matthew Briggs has 30 years aquaculture experience and a PhD in shrimp culture from the Institute of Aquaculture, Scotland.

He has worked worldwide in research, development, training and managing shrimp breeding, larval rearing and grow-out projects for international NGOs (including FAO & NACA) and private companies.

Currently he is employed by Ridley  AgriProducts in Australia, working with CSIRO as Technical Project Manager of the Novacq^TM (biofloc meal) commercialization project.

He was Director of Vannamei 101 Thailand, as consultant and trainer on shrimp breeding, hatchery and grow-out projects, product and broodstock/PL sales for the past decade.

  

Least cost diets are for suckers – economic formulations for 2020

For too long the focus of diet manufacture has been “least cost formulation” and while this is a function of saving money at the point of the biggest single cost to the farmer, there is a clear danger of least cost formulating off the edge of “the risk cliff”.  With the volatility of the fishmeal and oil markets, currency fluctuations and the issue of sustainability, there has never been a time where feed company formulators have been under so much pressure to hit the sweet spot of lowest cost feed and highest production of fish or shrimp.  It is too easy to be tempted into using lower specification raw materials and adjusting formulations to meet commercial expectations, but case studies will show that current diets can meet all the above considerations and actually improve growth, FCR and above all health of farmed fish and shrimp, while bad decisions can cost you dearly.

Dr. Richard Smullen, Technical Manager, Ridley AgriProducts Pty. Ltd., Australia

Dr Richard Smullen obtained his PhD from the Gatty Marine Laboratory, St Andrews Scotland and started his Post doctoral studies at the Institute of Aquaculture in 1994 where he continued his work on eyestalk neuropeptides in shrimp and lectured on the Aquaculture MSc course. After leaving the academic environment Richard worked for BioMar as the Technical and Product Development Manager and since 2003 he has been the Technical Manager at Ridley Aqua-Feeds in Brisbane, Australia.  He also currently manages the R&D portfolio for Ridley managing feed and farm trials for shrimp, barramundi, kingfish, salmon and tuna.