The DELIFEED project will generate knowledge on and methods to develop sustainable live feed for juvenile farmed fish and to improve juvenile fish’s health and growth through food, probiotics, and vaccines. The aim of this Project is to provide environmentally sustainable, nutritious, palatable, and immune-stimulating live feed for juvenile farmed fish. Our goals are to increase production and revenues in the aquaculture sector, improve animal welfare and environmental sustainability, create new jobs in the feed industry, and protect marine biodiversity.
Aquaculture is globally the fastest-growing animal food production sector, but the need for high-quality live feed for the early life stages of many fish species is a limiting factor. We aim to develop methods for sustainable industrial-scale production of novel healthy live feed for fish larvae and juveniles. We will use two terrestrial invertebrates (nematodes and white worms) to replace the widely used but suboptimal Artemia. The project will also develop technologies that increase the contents of essential omega-3 fatty acids (HUFA) in live feed and decrease the need for antibiotics in aquaculture. Cryopreservation techniques will be developed to ensure long shelf life and stable supplies. An overview of the project idea can be seen in Fig 2. The DELIFEED project consists of a complete consortium of complementary research groups (AU, AAU, DTU), live feed producers (FISHLAB, E-NEMA) and aquaculture companies (VENØ, SKAGENSAL, AQUAPRI, ALPHAAQUA, NORDICHALI, LANDAKVA) that can take this project all the way to the exploitation and commercialization of the results in the frame of a new enterprise, along with the creation of new jobs.
We had a Fantastic Kick-Off Meeting for DELIFEED. All 12 partners were represented and many with several participants. The partners are the three universities DTU - Technical University of Denmark, Aalborg University, and Aarhus University; three companies: e-nema, FISHLAB, W42 Industrial Biotechnology; and six fish producers: Skagen Salmon, AquaPri, Alpha Aqua A/S, LandBaseret Akvakultur Norge AS, Nordic Halibut AS, and Venøsund Fisk og Skaldyr.
The kick-off meeting clearly demonstrated that we are all working towards the same goal and are truly passionate about making this project a success.
