Phileo launches Prosaf®, for sustainable aquaculture and optimal performance
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Sven-Olof Malmqvist
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Do not fool yourself!
ust arrived back from China and made some reflections. The cuisine they have in Eastern China, or at least in Nanjing, the capital of the Jiangsu province, is very fresh and tasty, much better than in many other places in China. The Moutai, the distilled Chinese liquor produced from fermented sorghum, can taste very different depending on the brand. Another note in my book is the number of people, even in a remote city, is massive. When taking the high-speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing I asked someone about the population and the reply was that it is not a big city, just seven to eight million people. In Sweden we have a total number of nine million, so you understand where I am coming from! Walking around in these cities feels quite safe even during the evening/night but one thing you have to be observe is the silent electrical vehicles suddenly turning up behind you. I ´d really like to have a couple of those at my farm, very practical ones, worked like small trucks. Another fancy one I saw, in an office, was very tiny and could be folded and carried on the train and onto other mean of transportation. My main reason for going to China was, of course, the VIV feed show located in Nanjing with a number of exhibitors, both domestic and international. I met a whole bunch of potential suppliers of feed material and feed additive, some with old fashioned products but also some with some new innovative inventions. I had also the opportunity to visit some plants as well further inland. The good thing with these kinds of events are that you will make new contacts when you least expect it, and your network grows, which is good for the business as such. But if you think that China is the heaven of inexpensive labor you better think again. There are many other countries you should consider in that case, but if you are after good, intelligent, innovative, hard-working people go and invest in China. The working morale is high, and you will be surprised how far they have come already. And think about the buying power the growing middle class have, it´s heaven if you have the right product to sell. Sven Olof is an experienced export manager with a demonstrated history of working in the chemicals industry. He is skilled in marketing management, market planning, business planning, international business and sales management. He is a strong sales profession who graduated from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Malmoe.
hileo has recently announced the launch of Prosaf®, an innovative solution to better value plant-based diets by increasing feed intake and performance. As over-population continues to plague the world, the demand for food only continues to drown in the face of a huge sustainability challenge. “Working at the crossroads of nutrition and health, we are committed to delivering innovative solutions that enhance farmed fish and shrimp health and performance,” says Otavio Castro, Global Species Manager Aquaculture at Phileo. “This is the context in which we’re delighted to unveil Prosaf®, a truly innovative product that will bring new flexibility to balancing aquaculture diets for optimal performance.” The use of marine ingredients, such as fishmeal and fish oil, is being drastically reduced in aquafeed production due to the decreasing availability of such items worldwide. While manufacturers are turning instead to more sustainable items, such as plant-based ingredients, their inclusion remains challenging, especially at high levels. This is due to negative impacts on feed intake, perturbations of metabolic and health status, and growth performance slowdown. In response to this issue, Phileo R&D developed Prosaf®, a highly palatable source of small size bioavailable peptides, free amino acids and nucleotides, designed to boost fish growth, performance and disease resistance. Prosaf® is a water-soluble purified yeast extract, obtained by primary fermentation with a high protein content. Officially analysed by HPLC, Prosaf® has been confirmed as containing only small peptides, more than 88 percent of which are below 3.6 kDa, with 38 percent below 1 kDa. As such, the product offers highly bioavailable nutrients to increase the palatability and digestibility of plant-based diets. Pre-launch studies, based on shrimp, have proved that supplementing low-fishmeal diets with Prosaf® results in the same feed intake, growth performance and restored immune status, as comparative diets with three times as much fishmeal content. There is also trial evidence that Prosaf® strengthens the natural defenses of shrimp in comparison to fish which are fed on a non-supplemented lowfishmeal diet. According to a trial carried out at Prince of Songkla University, supplementing a low-fishmeal diet (5%) with 2.5 percent Prosaf® for 62 days significantly increased the total hemocyte count in whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) hemolymph.
12 | November 2018 - International Aquafeed