WI Aquaculture Bootcamp

Fish Feed - From Start to Finish

October 2018

Overview: Fish Feed - From Start to Finish

Fish Feed Basics

1. How is it made?

2. Ingredients and Feed Formulations

3. Common Feed Questions

4. Feed Management (FCR, energy in diets)

5. Appendix – Tools for feeding

#1 How is Feed Made?

The OLD way….

The NEW way….

Weigher Mixer

Lab: Raw materials database

Supplier, tonnage, test results

Raw material bulk silo

- Product code

- Formulation

- Run no.

Follows the mixture through

the plant to the bag

Pre mix

& pig.

Grinder

Raw material

intake

Bagging

Extruder

Dryer

Sieve

Cooler Coater

Oil tanks

Sieve

- Bag number

Fish Feed: How is it made?

Processing Plant – Tooele, Utah

Raw materials

receiving

& storage and

bulk loading

Example of fish feed extruder

How do you make different pellet sizes?

Trucks weighed &

ready to go

2. Ingredients and Feed formulation

11

Nutrient Requirements

• Fish have no requirement for any particular feed ingredient

• They do have a requirement for dietary energy and a

number of essential nutrients

• The art of feed formulation is to meet the nutrient

requirements for maximum fish performance from

available ingredients at a reasonable cost

Protein – 38 - 53%

Fish MealPoultry Meal, Feather Meal,

Blood Meal, Vegetable Proteins

Oil – 18-38%

Fish oilPoultry Oil, Vegetable Oils

Fiber and Carbohydrates -10-13%

Ash- 10%

Moisture- 7%

<1% vits.mins/pigment

What’s in it? Feed Ingredients - Crude

Composition

Ensure you are getting quality raw materials

• Ingredients are purchased for the basis of the fish

feed referred to as “raw materials”

• Ask how are the raw materials evaluated?

• To what precision are the evaluations being measured?

• Are the key elements in the formulation being evaluated such as

Protein, Fat, DP, starch, ash, key amino acids, moisture, fat, key

fatty acids and indicators of ingredient purity?

• Is the feed formulated to the real nutritional profile of the

ingredients received?

• QUALITY, QUALITY, QUALITY

Nutrition is about digestible nutrients

Raw Materials

• Composition

• Digestibility

• Predictability

• NIR

Fish

• Digestible Nutrient requirements

• Antinutritional factors

Feed

• Optimised formulation

• Physical quality parameters

Environment

• Temperature, DO, Disease,

Light, Season

For Example: Protein - Crude vs. Digestible

• Crude Protein vs.

• Digestible Protein is the

proportion of Crude protein

that can actually be used by

the fish

Digestible Protein

Non-digestible protein

Types of Protein

• Fish meal **

• Poultry meal

• Soybean meal

• Blood meal

• Corn gluten meal

Protein – 38 - 53%

Fish MealPoultry Meal, Feather Meal,

Blood Meal, Vegetable Proteins

Oil – 18-38%

Fish oilPoultry Oil, Vegetable Oils

Fiber and Carbohydrates -10-13%

Ash- 10%

Moisture- 7%

<1% vits.mins/pigment

Fish Meal

Oil; Fat & Lipids• Oil generally accounts for 5 - 38 % of feed

• Source of essential fatty acids

• Energy source

• Some feeds will have an increase in oil levels with increasing pellet size

• Example: Oil is trout most efficient source of energy,

• As dietary energy content (oil level) increases your fish will grow faster and have a lower FCR

• Types of oil

• Fish oil **

• Poultry oil

• Vegetable oils

Oil – 18-38%

Fish oilPoultry Oil, Vegetable Oils

Carbohydrates: Starch

• Carbohydrates are a diverse group of molecules including starch and sugars• Starches help “glue” it together

• Creates pores in the pellet which are filled with oil during vacuum coating to give the pellet its fat content

• Extrusion develops gelatinization of starch

• Allows expansion; develop space for oil

• Improves pellet binding; reducing dust & breakage

• Improves digestibility

• Types of Carbohydrates:

• Wheat

• Wheat flour

Fiber and Carbohydrates -10-13%

Vitamins/minerals/pigment

• Essential to the fish all of these, even as a very small portion of the

entire pellet, play a key role

• Think of the missing link in the chai, no matter how small the amount is

that is needed, it is essential

<1% vits.mins/pigment

Wheat Flour

Corn Gluten

Fish MealWheat

Fish Oil

How much of each do you add?

• Nutrient Requirements of Fish and Shrimp;

National Research Council (NRC)

• Skretting Aquaculture Research Center, Norway

• AqQM

How much Protein do Trout need?D

ige

sti

ble

Pro

tein

(g

/kg

)

Fish Size/pellet Size

DP Requirement

Extruded Trout

Not enough Protein

- Reduced Growth

- Higher FCR

Excess Protein

- Higher Price

- Higher FCR

Standard feed

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

1

1.05

1.1

1.15

1.71

1.72

1.73

1.74

1.75

1.76

1.77

1.78

16 16.5 17 17.5 18 18.5 19

FC

R

SG

R

DE (MJ/KG)

DE versus SGR & FCR SGR (%/day)

FCR

• FCR reduced 0.05 units per MJ DE

• SGR increased 3.6% per MJ DE

Strong effect of DE on fish performance

Products – Different cost and Performance levels

12% Classic Trout

MB version has min. 5% FM

Extruded Steelhead has min. 25% FM16% Steelhead

20% Oncor MB

Lower

Energy

(% oil)

Higher

Energy

(% oil)

25% Optiline MB

32% Premium MB

#3 Common Feed Question

27

Three main problems with feed as it ages

1. Vitamin degradation (Can’t see it, or smell it):Accelerated by:

– Heat, Oxygen, Moisture, Ultraviolet Light, Age – Use feed within

recommended shelf life (12 months – 6 months with added asta in the

diets)

2. Mold (Can see it)

– Moisture + Heat = Mold

– Modern fish feeds are well below 10% moisture

– Initial small amounts of mold are normally non toxic (Aspergillus glaucus)

– Molds can multiply quickly More toxic varieties can quickly follow. (A. flavus)

3. Rancidity (Can smell it)

– Lipids (fish oils) used in fish feeds are high in unsaturated fatty acids which

are prone to oxidative rancidity.

– Antioxidants in the oil are gradually depleted over time.

– Rancidity smells like paint, turpentine, chemical smell

– Don’t Feed

What is the best way to store feed ?

• Shelf life of the feed is 12 months, 6 months with added asta

• Cool & Dry

• Protected from rapid changes in temperature

• Well ventilated

• Keep rodents and insects out

• Rotate inventory, first in – first out

• In silos, move feed through as quickly as possible

#4 Feed Management

Feed Management: as first line of defense

• Know what your feeding; look at the feed labels

• Track feed and fish performance using:

• Daily feeding records, (FCR, SGR, historical feed

records, fish observations)

• How feed effects production costs (@50-60% of

costs)

• How energy in the feed effects production costs

• Tools for efficient feeding (Appendix)

Feed Label –

What does it tell us?

• Name of feed

• Product code

• Lot Number

• Manufacturing date

• Expiration date

• List of raw materials; order of inclusion

Feed Conversion Ratio - the basics

100 lbs. feed 100 lbs. of fish weight gain

Fish Feed

20 lbs.

1 : 120 lbs.

20 lbs.

20 lbs.

20 lbs.

Feed Conversion Ratio FCR

• FCR = Weight of Feed Fed / Fish Weight Gain

• If you feed 100 lbs. of feed and the fish weight gain

equals 100 lbs. FCR = 100 / 100 = 1.0

• If you feed 100 lbs of feed and the fish weight gain

equals 110 lbs. FCR = 100 / 110 = .91

A farm raises 400,000 lbs. of fish per year.

The average fish feed cost is: $0.75 per pound

• Run 1, the site achieves an FCR of 1.4

• 400,000 lbs of fish x 1.4 = 560,000 lbs. of feed

• 560,000 lbs x $0.75/lb. = $ 420,000

• Run 2, the site achieves an FCR of 1.1

• 400,000 lbs of fish x 1.1 = 440,000 lbs. of feed

• 440,000 lbs feed x $0.75/lb. = $ 330,000

• Cost reduced by $ 90,000 ( > 20 %)

How can FCR Effect the Budget?

How Can the Energy in the Feed Effect the Budget?

• Know the energy level in the diet

• Energy level drives how much you feed

• Is it more cost effective to feed more of a lower energy

diet (lower cost/lb.) OR feed less of a higher energy

(higher cost/lb.)

• What information do you look for, where do you find it?

• How do you effectively compare 2 different diets?

17.8 MJ/KG

16.7 MJ/KG

Key numbers:

FCR reduced 0.05 units per MJ DE

SGR increased 3.6% per MJ DE

• Efficient Feeding will provide the greatest

growth potential and the lowest FCR.

• Over feeding wastes feed and reduces water

quality.

• Underfeeding results in lost growth and fish

size variation.

Importance of Efficient Feeding

#5 Appendix: Tools for feeding efficiently

• Feeding Chart

• Feed calculation Spreadsheet

• Feed Value Calculator

All suggestions only; please adjust to your farm location

Feeding Chart

All suggestions only; please adjust to your farm location

Feed Calculation Spreadsheet; How much feed

do I need? -

All suggestions only; please adjust to your farm location