Feed Trials
Science Centres: Aquaculture and Biotechnology
NIWA’s Bream Bay Aquaculture Park houses a state-of-the-art nutrition trials unit for evaluating fish feed formulations and presentations.
Feeds are evaluated through fish performance (growth, health, carcass attributes), and environmental effects (waste feed, particulate and dissolved waste production) over a range of environmental conditions.
The unit includes three sets of 14 tanks (1.5 cu m each). Each set is configured for independent temperature and photoperiod control and paired raceways with environmental control and specialised fish handling systems.
The Need
Aquaculture continues to be the fastest growing food production sector in the world, with finfish farming being one of the major contributors to this growth. Feed constitutes the single greatest expense (approximately 60%) in the cost of producing high value fish. Commercial fish farming depends on high quality peletised feeds formulated to meet the fish's complete nutrient requirements at the lowest possible cost while delivering the best product quality, growth, and environmental performance.
Competition, changing raw materials costs, and advances in our knowledge of fish nutrition create an ongoing demand for feed performance evaluation.
Feed formulation is a well developed science and an experienced formulator can make use of a range of ingredients to provide the right balance of nutrients and energy in the feeds. Formulation innovation is also used to improve palatability, stimulate fish health, and moderate waste production.
The flexibility in formulation means that feed manufacturers routinely explore new formulae, processes, and ingredients. Although knowledge of ingredients and how to combine them can initially be worked out using the bespoke feed formulation programmes used by feed companies, new diets must be tested on fish prior to rollout on farms.
Our Service
Our feed trials unit means we now have the capability to carry out replicated trials, under full photothermal control configured to accurately deliver and recover feeds and faecal material. With the system we are able to determine:
- biological feed conversion rates (BFCR)
- Specific Growth Rate (SGR)
- digestibility of complete feeds and feed components using digestibility markers
In addition, we are now able to offer quantitative determination of feed consumption using our new portable x-ray. This allows visualisation of consumed feeds containing x-ray opaque ballotini, which are quantified using sophisticated counting software.
For further information contact
Dr Michael Bruce (Principal Scientist, Aquaculture)