Unibio and its partner and licensee Protelux are about to begin operations at their methane-to-protein plant. In July, Protelux completed the construction of the plant, located in Russia, and the parties are currently testing the plant and expect to commission it by late 2018. “We see this not just as a perspective investment into cutting-edge technology but as part of a bigger picture: a highly profitable industry of the local agricultural sector built from the ground up."

Nutriad sponsored The Roundtable Aquaculture Series (TARS) held in August in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The theme of TARS 2018 was 'Shrimp Aquaculture: Need for Change,' and Nutriad specialists presented views on the use of novel feed ingredients and additives to improve nutrition and health in shrimp production across the world. At TARS, Nutriad's lead aquaculture scientist shared his views on the potential of novel feed ingredients and functional feed additives to upgrade the current nutritional and functional value of shrimp feeds. “Traditional plant ingredients, novel oils and protein sources will improve the inputs of some but not all essential nutrients, so functional feed additives aiming to maximize the efficiency of absorption and utilization will be key to extract more nutritional value of each kilogram of feed."

White Dog Labs announced that independent testing by the Center for Aquaculture Technologies in Canada (CATC) has demonstrated the potential benefit of ProTyton to shrimp farming – initial studies doubled post larval survival rate, and increased weight gain by 50%. WDL has developed and scaled up ProTyton, an anaerobically produced Single Cell Protein ingredient that exhibits upwards of 85wt% crude protein and over 40wt% essential amino acids. The product is highly digestible and performed well in multiple aquaculture diets, and is now being evaluated by major aquafeed companies.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has deregulated Nuseed’s proprietary omega-3 canola for cultivation in the United States, an announcement welcomed by Nufarm Limited. Nuseed’s omega-3 canola secured authorization for cultivation, food and feed from Australian authorities earlier this year. “USDA approval represents another very significant milestone in the development and commercialization of this important new product. It further validates the safety and quality of the product and the regulatory progress being made in multiple jurisdictions.”

Evonik has rolled out a high-precision NIR analytical service to enable the content of raw, unground feed materials to be assessed as soon as they arrive at the mill. Evonik's advanced NIR analysis enables customers to analyze raw feed materials for amino acid and macro-nutrient content in the same measurement during the incoming goods inspection. “Thanks to our decades of experience with NIR and analyzing millions of raw feed material and feed mixture samples from all over the world, we are now in a position to determine the nutrient content of unground material with high accuracy."

Alltech’s commitment to the aquaculture industry reaffirmed with new bioscience center status; appoints Dr. Philip Lyons as global aquaculture research manager.

KnipBio announced that Russ Heissner has joined the company’s management team as Senior Vice President of Business Development & Operations. “Russ Heissner has spent his career in the industrial fermentation field and is a great addition to KnipBio’s management team. He will be responsible for managing the relationship with our production partner as well as overseeing supply agreements with feed and aquaculture companies."

The Center for Aquaculture Technologies Canada (CATC) has received a license from the Canadian Center for Veterinary Biologics of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA-CCVB) for its aquaculture research facility located in Souris, Prince Edward Island Canada.

Pancosma has completed a trial confirming the efficacy of its new product to support shrimp performance when infected with White Feces Disease (WFD). The latest XTRACT® product from Pancosma consists in a micro encapsulated allicin-based additive. In the recent trial performed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, WFD-infected shrimp who received feed supplemented with XTRACT® showed a significant reduction of the disease signs.

Evonik was awarded with special recognition in the categories of “Business Responsibility and Ethics” and “Supply Chain Management” at the Sustainability Business Awards (SBA) Singapore 2018. The recognition specifically highlights Evonik’s consistent and outstanding approach to its sustainability agenda. For example, in the area of supply chain management, Evonik is taking active steps to perform a sustainability evaluation of 90 percent of suppliers of critical raw materials by the end of 2020.

The Association of Exporters of Peru (ADEX) has awarded Vitapro the prize for the Export Excellence Award in the Product Diversification category. This recognition promotes national competitiveness and excellence and innovation of Peruvian exporters in the foreign market. "This award is the fruit of the effort of the entire organization to contribute to the development of our country, with a first-class product that meets the highest standards of quality and working hand in hand with our clients for the development of modern aquaculture."

According to experts who will present at the Biomin World Nutrition Forum, the expanding danger that secondary fungal metabolites pose to global feed safety, profitability and sustainability is becoming more apparent to the scientific community and agriculture sector. Fungi-produced mycotoxins endanger more than feed safety and security. They also hamper productivity, adding additional cost to the feed and food industry while also affecting the environment. Higher atmospheric temperatures, elevated carbon dioxide levels and water stress associated with climate change may all contribute to higher mycotoxin contamination of crops in the future.

At the recent Aqua Expo El Oro fair, organized by the National Chamber of Aquaculture of Ecuador, Nicovita presented on technological transformation and its tools; the application to the productive realities of the aquaculture industry. "The aquaculture of the future is projected with many challenges that can only be overcome with innovation and technology. With this transformation, tangible improvements will be achieved, such as higher productivity in a sustainable manner and lower production costs."

This year Geelen Counterflow supplied its 10,000th counterflow system. When the company started in 1980, it specialized exclusively in the counterflow cooler as invented by its founder Pierre Geelen. Since the late 1980’s the company has also been building counterflow dryers for aquafeed, food, and petfood using the counterflow heat exchange principle. Dryers typically consume 40-60% of an extrusion line’s total energy consumption, but counterflow dryers consume 20-50% less energy than belt dryers.

Cargill and ADM have formally launched SoyVenTM, their new joint venture to provide soybean meal and oil for customers in Egypt. SoyVen owns and operates the National Vegetable Oil Company soy crush facility in Borg Al-Arab. The plant’s daily crush capacity has been doubled to 6,000 metric tons in order to meet increasing Egyptian demand for higher-protein soybean meal and for oil, reducing the need for imports.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Probiotics International Limited (PIL). The all-cash transaction will be valued at £185 million. PIL, known under its umbrella brand Protexin, is a provider of probiotic supplements for human wellness and animal markets, including aquaculture. “There are great synergies with ADM and Biopolis, especially in the area of R&D, and we plan to add to an already very exciting development pipeline to provide innovative, evidence-based products of the highest quality for people and animals.”

Biomin has announced the publication of new survey results on the use of phytogenic feed additives (PFAs, or botanicals) in farm animal diets worldwide. According to the results, the digestibility enhancement and antimicrobial effects of phytogenics continue to rank as the two top reasons for the application of PFAs in animal diets. “The interest in how plant-based substances can contribute to better health and performance of farm animals remains strong among the feed and animal protein industries in all sectors and geographies, as evidenced by the latest findings.”

Neovia has announced it will become the majority shareholder of Hi Nutrients, a leading player on the premix market in Nigeria. Through this acquisition, Neovia is gaining a foothold in a promising market in which the company wants to draw on Hi Nutrients’ premix market position to develop and roll out its international premix brand Wisium’s portfolio of products and services.

BASF has released Natuphos® E, a new generation phytase which helps aquaculture animals, pigs, and poultry better utilize phosphorous and other key nutrients. BASF will be launching the product in Vietnam, and BIOMIN Vietnam will be responsible for the distribution in the country.

KnipBio, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Science Foundation to study how changes in diet can alleviate enteritis and other diseases in aquaculture. The company will investigate more than a dozen specific components in its KnipBio Meal™ (KBM) aquafeed ingredient to determine which can act as positive nutritional factors in both growth and gut biome composition of the model salmonid species rainbow trout. The study will be conducted over the course of one year and, if successful, may lead to additional funding to commercialize the findings.