Calysta’s fishmeal-free shrimp feed trials successful

California-headquartered life science firm Calysta said that shrimp fed a diet that includes its FeedKind protein had equivalent or higher survival and growth rates when compared to shrimp fed a standard fishmeal-based diet. 

FeedKind is a family of natural, non-animal source feed ingredients for livestock, fish and pets that have been approved for sale in multiple countries. Calysta said it uses 77 to 98 percent less water and 98 percent less land than alternative ingredients such as soy or wheat proteins.  

The trial was Calysta’s first study in warmwater aquaculture, and represents its entry into the 6 million metric ton (MT) global shrimp feed market. It was performed at Auburn University in conjunction with Texas A&M University, while the trial results were announced at the Aqua Nor 2017 aquaculture technology exhibition, taking place in Trondheim, Norway.

In the trial, post-larvae Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) were fed a commercially representative control diet containing fishmeal as a primary source of protein. Test diets were prepared where FeedKind protein replaced up to 100 percent of the fishmeal in the diet on a one-for-one basis. The animals were fed either the control or a test diet for eight weeks in a controlled environment. 

At the end of the study, shrimp survival was significantly improved in all FeedKind diets (93 to 97 percent) compared to the control diet (84 percent). In addition, the total shrimp weight in all FeedKind diet groups was shown to be equivalent to or improved versus the control fishmeal diet. 

“This is a significant expansion of the global market opportunity for FeedKind,” said Josh Silverman, founder and chief product and innovation officer at Calysta.  “FeedKind is being developed to meet the world’s growing demand for food and feed, and this trial demonstrates FeedKind’s potential to improve the diets in some of the world’s most challenging aquaculture species. These results show that FeedKind protein can significantly improve current aquaculture feeds, producing comparable or better results while reducing the overall environmental footprint and improving traceability and quality control in the supply chain.”

“Shrimp remain one of the most valuable seafood commodities within aquaculture, with global trade of more than USD 20 billion (EUR 17 billion) per year,” said Ronnie Tan, a member of the Calysta Advisory Board and vice president of Blue Archipelago, the largest shrimp enterprise in Malaysia. “Innovative products such as FeedKind will be important new market entries as demand grows in emerging countries for new sources of protein.”