PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF PLANT BASED SOURCE OF LONG CHAIN OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS FOR GROWING AQUACULTURE INDUSTRY

Today,  fast g rowing s almon  aquaculture  industry heavily  depends on marine sourced long chain Omega-3 fatty acids.  H owever, the production of fish meal and oil obtained from  wild caught  sources has been stable for over a decade  and  without projection to increase. A novel  canola crop containing long chain Omega-3 (docosahexaenoic (DHA),  eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosapentaenoic, (DPA)) fatty acids has been developed by Cargill-BASF to address  an approaching fish oil supply limitation and the  industry  sustainability demand.  

Feeding trials were conducted to  evaluate the novel oil performance as long chain Omega-3 source in commercial salmon diets.  Dietary treatments for studies were prepared in quadruplicates and fed to Salmo salar of 10g until they reached 48g in fresh water study and to Salmo salar of 184g until they reached 435g in salt water study. Results showed no significant difference in fish growth or food conversion ratio (FCR), and mortality between the dietary treatments at the end of the study were no different between diets in each trial, showing a value near 13% for fresh water and 7% for salt water trial.  The liver histological examination revealed that fat degeneration of the liver decreased with the use of novel Canola oil diet in comparison to the other diets. EPA and DHA retention in whole fish was significantly better in the novel canola oil diet in comparison to the fish oil diet for both feeding trials.

Based on feeding trials' results, the novel canola oil (Latitude®)  can be considered as a  sustainable fish oil substitute  in typical Atlantic salmon diets that efficiently delivers essential fatty acids to ensure performance and improving EPA and DHA retention as well as liver condition in Atlantic salmon.