Ready-mix Shrimp IMS Emulsion in Beta Testing
Aqua Bounty Technologies, Inc.a biotechnology company focused on enhancing productivity in the aquaculture market, is developing a new, emulsion-based delivery system for its non-specific immune stimulant, Shrimp IMS. The new formulation is designed to allow direct incorporation of IMS into hatchery feed by end users.
Shrimp IMS Emulsion delivers the immune system benefits of IMS in a suspension with salmon and krill oil, attractants, and stabilizers. Beta testing is currently underway in hatcheries in Panama, Mexico, and Indonesia. Initial reports have been favorable. Shrimp IMS Emulsion addresses several technical barriers that slowed widespread adoption of the first generation product in the shrimp market:
Formulation of a quality controlled “ready-to-add” IMS eliminates potential sources of error in the preparation of IMS to be added to feed. Currently, clients have to go through several measuring and mixing steps that can diminish product efficacy if done incorrectly.
Hatchery operators typically feed a variety of different larval feed brands, to which they can easily mix the Shrimp IMS Emulsion, eliminating the company’s need to fully penetrate the fragmented larval feed sector to deliver IMS through the wide variety of competing products. Shrimp IMS Emulsion represents a practical and efficient vehicle for applying IMS in hatcheries while removing a logistical bottleneck that could have interfered with IMS treatment protocols. Most importantly, the emulsion is more convenient for hatchery personnel to use.
Pre-treatment of larval shrimp before they are released to grow-out ponds increases the effectiveness of IMS treatment and pre-qualifies prospective clients for the feed-based product form used on production farms.
First generation Shrimp IMS is currently approved for commercial use in Mexico and Ecuador. Fifteen field trials are currently underway and nearing completion in five countries to demonstrate the efficacy and favourable cost-benefit performance of Shrimp IMS under local conditions. The product is designed to increase immune response in shrimp by stimulating production of hemocytes that fight infection.
