Belgium headquartered feed additives producer Nutriad hosted a customer event at the 2017 European Aquaculture Society (EAS) conference, which took place in Dubrovnik (Croatia) from October 17-20. EAS 2017 was surely among the biggest EAS conferences ever, attracting over 1600 participants and more than 40 exhibitors. Nutriad’s event “Functional feed additives in aquaculture: How to add more?” was well received by producers of marine fish, fish feed producers, and a large number of consultants and academic scientists that attended from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Norway and Croatia.
“Nutriad has invested considerably and consistently in aquaculture research and service during recent years, building a team of experts with global experience in health and specialty additives for fish and shrimp”, stated Dr. Peter Coutteau, Business Unit Director Aquaculture. “This seminar was aimed at sharing information with our European aquaculture customers, with a specific emphasis on the Mediterranean producers of marine fish. The audience represented well over 50% of the marine fish production in the Mediterranean region, covered either as farmer or feed supplier.”
Invited speaker Dr. Panos Varvarigos, provided an overview of the current health challenges and farm management strategies to prevent disease in Mediterranean marine fish. Maria Mercè Isern, DVM, Business Development Manager Aqua Health reviewed global experiences with Nutriad’s functional feed additives to promote fish health. Alexander van Halteren, Business Development Manager Aqua Nutrition, demonstrated how functional feed additives can enhance digestive/metabolic processes in carnivorous fish. Dr. Palenzuela Oswaldo, researcher at CSIC Torre de la Sal, Spain, reported on a recent study which demonstrated the capability of a functional feed additive to reduce the impact of an infection with Enteromyxum leei on growth and parasite development in gilthead seabream. Maria Mercè Isern closed the session with a talk on prevention strategies for monogenean gill parasites and Nutriad’s current research programs in this field. Monogenean parasites are currently regarded as one of the main threats by marine fish producers in southern Europe.
At the EAS17 Exhibition, Nutriad’s booth focused on programs for aquaculture additives that support the prevention of diseases and parasitic infections (SANACORE, AQUASTIM, APEX AQUA, BACTINIL AQUA) and species-specific digestive/metabolic enhancers to reduce feed cost and improve performance in fish and shrimp (AQUAGEST, AQUALYSO, LIPOGEST).
At the scientific conference, Nutriad co-authored a scientific contribution by Rocio Robles et al. demonstrating that a functional feed additive can reduce the mortality caused by the monogenean parasite Diplectanum sp. in European seabass.
Concluded Nutriad CEO Erik Visser: “To address the nutritional, digestion and health needs from different aquaculture species Nutriad has invested in the development of a range of species specific feed additives that have proven their efficacy across the world, which is coupled with high level technical support from our aqua team. Nutriad continues to be committed to aquaculture as part of a strategic focus going forward.”
