miXscience (Avril Group) launched two new products for the aquafeed industry at Aquaculture Europe: Valopro Fit and the PROVEA range.
A new digestive potentializer
The aquafeed industry has been reducing its use of marine-based ingredients over the past few years, instead moving towards plant-based ingredients. However, high dietary inclusion levels of plant proteins can be challenging since they are often associated with detrimental effects on growth, feed efficiency, intestinal dysbiosis, and immune response, threatening the profitability of major aquaculture species.
To address these issues, miXscience developed a digestive potentializer, Valopro Fit, which helps mitigate the negative impact of challenging feeds. The new product is primarily based on plant-based ingredients, combined with other coating components that ensure cohesivity and extrusion resistance.
Stéphane Frouel, R&D manager, presented results in Aquaculture Europe that show the efficacy of this new product when rainbow trout face nutritional stress. Rainbow trout that had been previously subjected to inflammation with dextran sodium sulphate (1%) for 10 days were fed with a suboptimal feed (low levels of marine ingredients), and a suboptimal feed supplemented with Valopro Fit at different levels. These diets were compared with an optimal feed for 87 days.
Results presented by Stéphane showed reduced inflammation, improved stress response, reinforcement of gut tight junctions, and optimization of nutrient digestion, absorption and digestibility in rainbow trout.
“The suboptimal feed, with drastic reduction of marine ingredients, supplemented with Valopro Fit delivered performance and resilience comparable to optimal feeds, with a real added value in fish well-being under nutritional challenges,” Stéphane explained.
Valopro Fit is a sustainable digestive potentializer that acts directly at the animal level, creating a virtuous circle of benefits, such as an increase in overall fish resistance, preservation of gut integrity, enhancement of nutrient digestibility and transport, improvement of feed efficiency, and maintenance of growth performance. “These combined effects benefit not only the individual animal but also the production system and the environment,” Stéphane said.
The product is based on a specific VSTAR matrix. It has been designed to resist the high temperatures to which the feed is exposed during processing, such as extrusion.
Protein concentrates
The company also launched the PROVEA range, protein concentrates from plant-based sources: faba bean and pea. These concentrates, sourced and processed in France, aim to enhance the nutritional composition and digestibility of aquatic species, providing sustainable protein alternatives for aquafeed formulation.
PROVEA range provides a nutritionally advanced and environmentally responsible solution for aquafeed formulation. “By leveraging locally sourced plant-based proteins, we support sustainable practices and contribute to the development of a more resilient aquaculture sector,” the company said. “The use of these innovative protein concentrates in aquafeeds offers several benefits, including improved nutrient digestibility in animals, reduced environmental impact, optimized feed costs, and enhanced traceability of feed ingredients.”
The protein concentrates have a reduced environmental impact, ranging from 0.8 to 1.3 kg CO2e per kg of concentrate (from field to miXscience plant outlet), and are fully traceable.
