TRANSLATING FISHMEAL REPLACEMENT RESEARCH INTO A COMMERCIAL-READY SOY-BASED FEED FOR KAMPACHI (Seriola rivoliana)  

Kampachi Farms and its predecessor company Kona Blue Water Farms, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have been engaged in a concerted effort to replace fishmeal in diets for our Kampachi (Seriola rivoliana) with incrementally higher concentrations of soy-based proteins. Beginning with relatively low concentrations of soybean meal in 2007, research based in Hawaii and Nebraska has gradually improved diet formulations to produce what we consider today to be a "Commercial-Ready" soy-based formula. This formulation reduces fishmeal to less than 12% of the overall diet, but relies on Soy Protein Concentrate (SPC), which in North America is only available in useful quantities as expensive human food-grade products. Kampachi Farms has therefore sought "alternative alternatives" to increase the economic advantage conferred by the replacement of fishmeal with soy protein in our developing Kampachi production facility in La Paz, Mexico, and provide the U.S. aquaculture industry with performance data on lower-cost, domestically available fishmeal replacements.

Prairie Aquatech of Brookings, SD has developed a patented microbial fermentation process that reduces carbohydrates and antinutrtional factors in Soy Bean Meal, producing a Fermented Soybean Meal (FSBM) product with similar characteristics to traditional SPC. Kampachi Farms is currently conducting a full harvest-cycle growout trial comparing UNL's "Commercial-Ready" soy-based formula, in both SPC and FSBM-based versions, to the industry-standard yellowtail diet produced by EWOS. An overview of the work leading to the "Commercial-Ready" Soy formulation and the results of the final full harvest-cycle growout trial will be presented, including formulation details, growth and feed conversion performance, whole body composition data (proximate and fatty-acid analysis), and the results of consumer difference and preference testing.