Over the years, the salmon farming industry has had to face important challenges to develop aquafeeds with high lipid content, enhance the energy supplied to salmon and balance amino acids to optimize protein synthesis. As these developments progress, a critical complication emerges: fat loss during storage and eutrophication of seabeds.

Chilean R&D company Innocon has developed an oily product, obtained from plant and animal oils, that offers ideal rheological characteristics to retain fats in aquafeeds, being completely digestible by fish and environmentally friendly.

The new product was tested in fat retention trials showing comparable efficacy to traditional coating fats. Digestibility analyses revealed a 30% increase. Designed for application during the coating stage, the product offers a flexible dosage between 0.5% and 1.5%.

The project, financed by the Biobío regional government through the Fund for Innovation and Regional Competitiveness, FIC-R, celebrated its completion milestone with a ceremony at the Innocon facilities, located in Coronel, and was attended by local authorities, R&D stakeholders as well as representatives of the salmon farming and Holging SETOP.

Carlos Sepúlveda Toepfer, general manager of Innocon, stressed the importance of developing this type of initiative to support scientific research. “At Innocon, we are happy to promote these types of projects and empower researchers with great initiative so they can take their ideas forward, and, of course, positively impact the regional economy and deliver an environmental benefit to the country. We hope to continue promoting initiatives like this.”