Asian Scientist (Aug. 1, 2013) – Australian researchers have developed a food additive for farmed prawns, giving prawn lovers access to more sustainable prawns that still taste great.
Scientists from CSIRO have developed the Novacq prawn feed additive after 10 years of research.
Farmed prawns fed with Novacq grow on average 30 per cent faster, are healthier and can be produced with no fish products in their diet, a world-first achievement in sustainability.
CSIRO’s Dr Nigel Preston has been working with the Australian prawn farming industry for over 25 years, and says this is a game changer for the industry.
“We fed Novacq to black tiger prawns, and it made them even better for consumers, the environment and prawn farmers,” said Dr Preston.
“This is a major achievement for the sustainability of Australia’s aquaculture industry as prawns fed this diet are not only a top quality product and reach market size faster, they also no longer need to be fed with any products from wild fishery resources.”
Until now, Australian prawn farmers have needed to feed their prawns with a pellet that includes some sustainably sourced fish meal or fish oil, in order to ensure that the prawns grew fast, and were a healthy and high quality product for consumers.
Novacq is an entirely natural food source based on the smallest organisms in the marine environment, the marine microbes. It is based on over 10 years of CSIRO research to understand the natural marine microbial processes that occur in prawn farm ponds and natural marine estuaries, and the role of microbes in prawn nutrition.
Production of Novacq relies on the controlled production of these marine microbes. CSIRO researchers have discovered how to feed and harvest them, and convert them into a product that can then be added to feeds as a bioactive ingredient, like a dietary supplement for prawns.
Ridley AgriProducts has taken a licence to produce and distribute Novacq in Australia and several South-East Asian countries.
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Source: CSIRO; Photo: avlxyz/Flickr.
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