YNSECT PRODUCTION FOR THE AQUACULTURE SECTOR: INSECT MEAL AND GROWTH PERFORMANCES

In 2015, Ynsect demonstrated the high quality and performance of its blockbuster product TMPTM (Tenebrio molitor defatted protein meal) in juvenile rainbow trouts in comparison with a super prime fish meal 70 LT (+34% weight gain and -15% FCR after 90 days). Unpublished trials (for confidentiality reasons) on poultry and mice also showed significant impact on growth, well-being and the health of these animals.

The company aims to diversify its market targets in many species and different regions. The white leg shrimp (L. vannamei) is one of the main species in aquaculture, of which total production amounts to 3.7 million tons per year (FAO 2014) and where the largest producers are China, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Ynsect launched a new trial with Kasetsart University (Bangkok, Thailand) on juvenile shrimps in 2016. The control diet contains 25% fish meal (FM) and a total of five different diets with increasing rates of inclusion of TMPTM as a replacement for the FM, which were designed with iso-nutritive contents. No significant difference was assessed in the palatability test between the diets. The T5 diet (100% FM replacement by TMPTM increased weight gain by 21% and final body weight by 12.4% after 8 weeks of feeding, but the best results were found for the 10.3% TMPTM inclusion in the diet (50% FM replacement): an increase by 33.7% in weight gain and by 24% in final body weight after 8 weeks of feeding. The FCR decreased significantly by up to 25%. The apparent digestibility of proteins and lipids was above 97.4%.

IMMUNO-STIMULANT PROPERTIES

A challenge test was performed with a frequent pathogen in aquaculture (Vibrio parahemolyticus), responsible for the well-known Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS). After 10 days, the survival rate reached 90% in the diet with 50% FM replacement by TMPTM compared to 56.7% in the control diet. Mortality could be observed directly from 5% TMPTM inclusion. The mortality was divided by up to 4, which is due to the patented1 bacteriostatic effect of TMPTM and the constant increase of the phenol oxidase activity (up to +400% in the diet with 100% FM replacement by TMPTM). Since the shrimp does not have an acquired immune system, this immuno-stimulant property is very promising.