Vitamin Sea
HOW TO GET MORE OUT OF YOUR INSECTS:
Democratizing Aquafeed Production With Insects
A worm on the fishing hook or a fly-shaped bait is the image that comes to mind when we think about fishing. We lure fish by using their natural feed – insects, as bait. Now that commercial mass-scale insect farming technology is available, the question begs to be asked –
Can we feed fish with whole insects?
Rendering insects into a protein meal and fat requires expensive equipment. Feed pellets extrusion is even more complicated and capital intensive. Why do we need to grind the insects and then glue them back together into artificial extruded pellets? The answer to this question lies in the nutritional needs of different fish species. The black soldier fly has an excellent nutritional profile, but specific amino acids such as Methionine are still below the required quantity for many fish species. In addition, Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are essential for fish and are not naturally occurring interrestrial insect larvae. Genufeed’s product solves the challenge by utilizing a natural and straight forward approach. A tailored coating formulation that contains any missing nutrients is applied on intact (or chopped) dried insect larvae so that when consumed by the fish whole and coated, the larvae will deliver a complete diet containing all essential nutrients. An important benefit for insect farmers is fully utilizing the entire body of the larvae, both protein and fat. Coating the larvae with Genufeed’s nutritional enhancement formulation does not require expensive equipment. It helps insect farmers set up more modular facilities closer to the substrate sources and reduces the capital costs of setting up insect farms. Recirculating Aquaculture Systems are a hot topic in the fish farming world these days.
Genufeed can support this trend in different ways. First, many of the newly constructed RAS facilities are financed based on offtake agreements signed with local retailers. These agreements lock in the sale price of the fish for an extended period. However, RAS operators remain exposed to the volatility of feed prices linked to world commodity prices.
“Genufeed’s solution is a real game-changer, enabling insect farmers to derive more value from insect larvae while lowering processing costs.” – Genufeed
Genufeed enables the production of feed that is entirely independent of commodity prices. Second, water quality is the crucial factor for a successful RAS operation. Besides improved FCR and lower mortalities, feeding trials with Genufeed-coated larvae demonstrated that the fish give off fecal material that is much more solid and easier to filter.
For more information about GENUFEED, please read pages 23-24 of Beta Buzz – The MUST-HAVE Insect Farming Publication
Alternatively, for more information about GENUFEED and their products, please visit; WWW.GENUFEED.COM
