A meeting was recently held on behalf of the project Profitable Arctic charr farming in the Nordic countries. The aim of the project is to test new feed types for char that contain more raw materials from the plant kingdom than have been used in char feed so far.
The project is funded by the Nordic Innovation Fund and is a collaboration between Iceland, Sweden and Norway. The project manager is Jón Árnason Matís ohf, but other participants are Hólar University, Fóðurverksmiðjan Laxá, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Polarfeed in Norway as well as Icelandic, Swedish and Norwegian fish farms. The project tested new feed recipes based on participants' research on the ability of char to utilize feed that contains a large amount of raw materials from the plant kingdom. The protein requirement of charr has also been investigated, but these studies have shown that less protein can be found in charr feed than is used in older recipes. There were over 20 participants in the meeting.
Feed for salmon and char can contain significant amounts of plant raw materials - even over 60%. Plant raw materials are cheaper than fishmeal and a very interesting option for making fodder. In the project, feed was tested with considerably more substitution of fishmeal for plant raw materials than is known in the feed that is now most commonly used in charr farming. Most indications are that charr farming can become a net producer of fish, ie. produced more fish protein than is used in the production.
Jón Árnason, project manager at Matís, gives a talk
The experiments were performed at fish farms in Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It was considered important to carry out experiments in large-scale farming units in fish farms to verify that these types of feed yield comparable results in aquaculture and conventional feed. Several smaller-scale experiments were also performed to further investigate the effects of the feed.
The results are very positive for the charr fire. The growth of char fed with the new feed types was in most cases comparable to the growth of char fed with conventional feed. Feed costs were up to 20% lower with the plant feed, although the profitability was different depending on the experiments. Taste tests with consumers and trained taste panels in Iceland and Sweden revealed that fish produced with plant feed is as tasty as fish produced with traditional feed. The plant feed did not seem to affect the welfare of the char. However, plant foods are likely to increase the release of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds into the environment.
Meeting guests came from the group of fish farmers, marketers and feed producers. The results of the project were discussed from various angles.
There was a consensus that the results presented should not diminish the good reputation of Nordic charr in the markets. The results could also lead to increased efficiency and sustainability in charr production. Reduced use of fishmeal and fish oil in charr feed has both economic and market significance.
For further information Arnljótur Bjarki Bergsson, Head of Resources and Products.