Spotlight project
The NON-Fôr project
The NON-Fôr project was launched to gather knowledge and find sustainable solutions for aquafeed within the Nordic aquafeed community. Researchers in the NON-Fôr project conducted a feeding experiment in Northern Norway to develop and examine various high-quality, high-performance fish feed types. The aim was to reduce dependency on wild fish stocks and to assess the impact of novel feed ingredients on fish health and sustainability. The feed ingredients were analyzed in terms of adaptability for commercial production facilities.
Veramaris was proud to be one of the key feed ingredient suppliers taking part in the project. Three diets were used in the experiment, a control diet with fish oil, and two others replacing 50% and 100% of fish oil with Veramaris algal oil. As expected, after a nearly two-year-long commercial-like feeding study, spanning from the freshwater to seawater stages of Atlantic salmon, results showed the efficacy of feeds containing Veramaris oil.
Pre-adaptation to smoltification, growth and welfare of the fish and the produced fillet quality were neither positively nor negatively impacted by the diets. The outcome of the study is that a modest inclusion of 2–3% Veramaris oil, which is rich in EPA & DHA, in combination with a plant oil can potentially reduce dependency on fish oil in salmon feeds. The project’s tasting panel also noted added benefits of including algal oil in fish feed on the sensory performance of the fish fillet.
Building upon earlier scientific studies*, the project provided further evidence that Veramaris algal oil is an effective, reliable ingredient in feed formulations. The project’s findings will be distributed over the coming year at conferences and in peer-reviewed publications.
* Algal oil improves control of long-chain omega-3 levels in Atlantic salmon, without detriment to zootechnical performance and sensory characteristics – Veramaris
Get the inside story from the project leader
“With the quality of Veramaris algal oil, it is preferable to include it as an ingredient.”
What were the key issues that this project aimed to address?
We wanted to address the main concerns around sustainable feed ingredients and drive the push that we need to find new alternatives because the ingredients we’re using today are taking a toll on fish health and are not seen as sustainable.
Why is it necessary to find new sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, from a health perspective?
On the health side, we are using less and less fish oil, so the fish has an imbalance between Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids. This, in turn, has a negative effect on fish health.
Were there any highlights within the project’s results?
The project’s results show that mealworm and black soldier fly meal are very good sources of protein for fish – and combined with Veramaris’ algal oil, we had some very promising results. It is a good solution for future fish feed.
What does this mean for Veramaris’ algal oil in particular?
Doing this kind of research, if there is a problem you aren’t aware of, you’re going to find out about it. And one of the promising things about Veramaris is that now, there have been many studies done where their algal oil has been used to replace fish oil, and we haven’t seen any of these problems. With the quality of Veramaris algal oil, it is preferable to include it as an ingredient.
