Sustainability Sustainable aquaculture and functional brewer’s yeast products: Industry guest lecture at University of Plymouth
Industry guest lecture, 25th Feb 2020
Aquaculture significantly contributes to food and protein supplies around the globe. Aquaculture production now exceeds capture fisheries landings as a source of food for human consumption, accounting for 53 percent of total global fish production (FAO, 2018). Aquaculture already is a relatively sustainable production system, but more can be done to help underpin the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. At the University of Plymouth, students on the MSc Sustainable Aquaculture course are offered an excellent training programme on the sustainable use of resources for aquaculture production, aquatic animal health, reduction of environmental impacts and addressing socio-economic factors. As part of the programme, a series of industry guest lectures is delivered by representatives from leading companies and organisations along the value chain in order to give students first-hand insights from a commercial perspective. This year’s initial lecture was given by Dr Holger Kühlwein, Global Key Account Manager Aquaculture at Leiber GmbH. He presented an overview of the wide brewer’s yeast product range using different fractions of the yeast cell, their quality aspects and applications in aquafeeds and aquatic animal health, and how these products can contribute to overall sustainable aquaculture.
Industry Scholarship Programme
As part of the extended collaboration and commitment to sustainable aquaculture Leiber GmbH is also investing in the
Aquaculture Sustainability Industry Scholarship Programme by providing funding for two of the students. Each of them will be able to apply and further develop acquired knowledge and lab skills by being part of the testing of two selected brewer’s yeast products. Their specific functionalities require scientific evaluation across various species and their life stages, as well as a constant (re) adjustment according to scientific developments and changing requirements in the aquafeed industry as a whole. “This, in combination with the predicted high annual growth rates of the aquaculture industry and the consequential increasing need for a highly-skilled workforce, is the incentive for us to contribute to the education in and the development of the aquaculture industry” says Dr Kühlwein. “This MSc programme, backed by the extensive scientific experience of the programme leaders and the research group in the field of functional feed ingredients for aquaculture, offers great opportunities in that direction.” For Leiber, sustainability has been the business model for more than six decades. By-products from breweries, brewers’ yeast and spent grains, are refined into high-quality products for animal nutrition, food industry and biotechnology. Just through its business model alone, Leiber is already making a contribution to sustainability. In addition, economical use of electrical energy and heat energy, for example, form an integral part of Leiber’s corporate strategy. With its own biogas plant and two turbines, Leiber generates around 35 percent of its own electricity and around 10 percent of its thermal energy needs. www.leibergmbh.de
36 | July 2020 - International Aquafeed