Kiotech opens first representative office in China
Kiotech, the UK AIM market listed company, which is developing the high performance natural attractant product, Aquatice, to boost the appetite of farmed fish, has opened its first representative office in the People’s Republic of China.
The Kiotech office in Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) is around 120 kms (75 miles) north west of Hong Kong. Guangzhou has a population of around 10 million making it the third largest city in mainland China and is at the heart of the Guangdong province fish farming industry. Overall, China accounts for around 70 percent of all aquaculture production in the world, about 42 million metrics tonnes.
“This is a major step forward for us,” said Kiotech Director Mark Nicholls. “We have established an office in China to enable us to apply for and hold the product registrations for our range of Aquatice fish feeding attractants.”
“The office is well positioned to provide technical sales support to Aquatice as the product is rolled out in the region. We will use this facility to manage new product development through laboratory and commercial farm trials,” explained Nicholls.
The Kiotech office has three graduate staff with disciplines in aquaculture and commerce.
Kiotech is currently involved in commercial trial and development programs in the Far East in close association with the Regional Government Fisheries Institute and with UK government agency CEFAS (Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science). The program has demonstrated the efficacy of Aquatice for both adult and juvenile Tilapia in Guangdong fish farms as well as for White Shrimp and most recently for Catfish in trials both conducted in Thailand.
The initial trials with Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were conducted in Zhouhai, Southern China over a six month period. After 109 days of culture, the application of the Tilapia Aquatice product produced a 17% increase in the average weight of the Tilapia compared to the control pond. The fish also reached marketable size (700g) faster, three weeks earlier than the control pond.
In the White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) trial conducted in south east Thailand, the trial lasted three months and the shrimp in ponds treated with the Aquatice attractant had a higher growth rate of 0.11g/day as compared to the control group at 0.08g/day. The average weight of the shrimp was 30% larger than shrimp in the control group and the trials concluded that the attractants promoted significantly faster growth in shrimp and that less feed was required.
For catfish (Clarias sp.). The eight-pond trial was conducted in Southern Thailand and lasted seven months. The Aquatice treated ponds delivered double the number of large catfish, which command a premium price in the market and a significantly higher total yield and marked improvement in the feed conversion ratio compared with the control ponds
“These trials also demonstrated crucial environmental benefits with significantly improved water quality in the Aquatice treated ponds, said Nicholls.
