April 20, 2018

Sponsor Nutriad participates in Aquafeed Horizons Asia 2018

Nutriad was one of the proud sponsors of the 11th Aquafeed Horizons Asia 2018 (Advances in Aquafeed Processing & Formulation Workshop) that took place in Bangkok recently.

The event successfully attracted major aqua players from Asia, as well as producers from Europe, the United States and Australia. The conference was designed for commercial aquaculture feed manufacturers and others to learn the latest formulation and processing solutions commercially available for producing aquatic feeds.

Dr. Peter Coutteau, Business Unit Director with Nutriad, was invited to talk about "Balancing Nutrient Levels Through the Application of Functional Additives". Dr. Coutteau shared the results of a survey organised by Nutriad in India in 2016, that analysed nutrient levels of commercial shrimp feeds. The study sampled eight commercial brands of shrimp feeds and analysed a number of key nutrients, including proximate composition, amino acids, fatty acids, cholesterol and phospholipid levels. The analyses revealed the general lack of standardisation of nutritional standards in the shrimp feed industry, showing high variability in nutrient levels among different commercial feeds. Furthermore, the study indicated that the industry is responding to the increasing scarcity of fishmeal and fish oil by reducing the levels of cholesterol and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), while compensating this with increasing levels of phospholipids.

"The increasing cost of essential nutrients such as cholesterol and n-3 HUFA which cannot be synthesised by shrimp, offer good opportunities for some of our digestive-enhancing feed additives which have been designed specifically for shrimp to improve the digestion and absorption of essential fats. This is far more cost-effective than to supplement with expensive sources of n-3 HUFA and cholesterol," said Dr. Peter Coutteau.

Nutriad has been supporting the Aquafeed Horizon Asia conference for the past five years. "We are delighted to see more practical solutions being discussed in the conference with an increasing number of participants each year. As we learn from experiences from producers of the world, every day we can improve our product- and service offerings" said Allen (Ming-Hsun) Wu, Nutriad Regional Manager Aquaculture, Asia Pacific.