New formulations for marine fish aquaculture will be developed based on a combination of microalgae species of low microbial load, high biochemical and biological quality for rotifers growth and enrichment for marine larvae nutrition.
About the Project
The production of larvae and post-larvae of marine fish in hatcheries is a critical point in the development and production of fish in aquaculture, which is a food producing sector in strong growth
- The first feeding require live prey (rotifers and/or artemia) which are filter feeders that consume phytoplankton. Microalgae cultivation in aquaculture hatcheries represents 30 to 70% of the production costs, its maintenance is labour intensive, and is highly challenging due to its susceptibility to crashes.
- In order to overcome these constraints, the use of commercial microalgae products will, in turn, ensure biomass availability in case of crashes, allowing the allocation of resources for the cultivation of more fish larvae.
- Pathologies associated with different types of stress (e.g. in co-feeding) are considered one of the biggest challenges in aquaculture, promoting mortality outbreaks and serious economic complications for the sector.
- Probiotics show several beneficial effects on fish: prevention of pathologies and treatment of diseases, improvement of fish imunity and water quality in the culture tank, reduction of the animals’ stress levels.
Hence, microalgae blends combined with probiotics are the solution!
Product Development Framework
Microalgae Industrial Production
Scale-up of microalgae production at Necton to obtain biomass for new products development within the ALLARVAE project.
Industrial production of different microalgae species.
Product Development: Pilot Microalgae Formulations
Balanced and nutritious microalgae blends in several biomass typologies will be formulated. The synergy between microalgae and probiotics will be used in the products since it is beneficial to live feed production and larval rearing.
The biochemical composition of microalgae, blends and enriched rotifers will be analyzed and blends tested in marine larvae nutrition.
Microalgae hydrolysates will be performed and introduced in diets for larval weaning to enhance diet digestibility and improve larvae survival.
“Green water” Technique
Addition of microalgae and rotifers to the fish larvae culture tank to increase their predatory capacity, water quality of the tank, diversify the larvae microbiome and improve resistance to stress and pathogens.
Live Feed Culture Optimization and Enrichment for Marine Larvae
Development of a feed for rotifers that allows a long-term bacteriological control towards higher reliability of live feed production either in batch or semi-continuous production regimes and standard closed systema or recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS).
Use of probiotics in live feed culture and in live feed enrichment for marine larvae nutrition to promote the diversification of larvae microbiome.
Microalgae Hydrolysates
Functional Ingredients for
Microdiets for Marine Larviculture
Development of microalgae hydrolysis methodologies aiming as a final product a functional ingredient for co-feeding critical period. The objective with this new ingredient is to improve the diet digestibility and larvae survival at this decisive stage in marine fish cultivation.
Microalgae Blends Testing in Marine Larvae
Microalgae blends with probiotics focused on increasing marine larvae growth, survival, adequate development, and improvement of resistance to stress will be tested and fish larvae biological performance evaluated.
Larval feeding protocols will be improved with a balanced nutrition and microbiome of the organisms and rearing systems, promoting mortality reduction, particularly during the critical period of weaning.
