Nematodes as the world first pathogen free, ready-to-use and sustainable live feed for larval aquaculture industry

Project Information

NEMAQUA

Grant agreement ID: 696373

DOI

10.3030/696373

Project closed

EC signature date 9 September 2015

Start date 1 October 2015

End date 31 March 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

E-NEMA GESELLSCHAFT FUER BIOTECHNOLOGIE UND BIOLOGISCHEN PFLANZENSCHUTZ mbH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NEMAQUA (Nematodes as the world first pathogen free, ready-to-use and sustainable live feed for larval aquaculture industry)

Reporting period: 2015-10-01 to 2016-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The feasibility study „Nematodes as the world first pathogen free, ready-to-use and sustainable live feed for larval aquaculture industry” concludes that the prototype can be scaled to industrial size production and that market introduction is possible with a high probability of success and profitability.
The target market is indeed undersupplied and eager to find new sources of supply. Benchmarked against the current best practice solution in the market, the new solution can be produced and offered competitively against the current best practice which uses Artemia as source of live feed
The financial analyses comes to the clear result that the economic data raised in the project find Nemaqua to be a robust product with excellent profitability.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The nematodes were successfully fermented in a vessel with 100 times the size of the laboratory reactor used for the prototype. The production run produced nematodes in good quality with feasible yield. Various downstream technologies were then applied and tested in order to find a suitable method to desiccate the nematodes to make them storage stable. It was possible to identify and test equipment that fulfils the requirement. However, problems were encountered in long term storage stability. Those need to be resolved by fine tuning the procedures and by customizing equipment.
Furthermore, a market study fully confirms the market assumptions made in the project proposal.
In the commercial feasability study the current IP stiuation was reviewed for rtisks and possible own filing. Next the reliable data raised in the technical part of the study was used to calculate the magnitude of investment needed to establish a production line for market introduction. Based on these learnings the production cost per unit was found to be in an acceptable range. The necessary steps and cost involved with a successful marketing approach to introduce the new technology to its target market were assessed. With the results from these partial efforts a financial analysis for the implementation of the full project at industrial scale was conducted. The result is positive and the conducted stress test provides the information that the project is financially robust.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

"State of the art is to feed larvae of fish and crustaceans raised in aquaculture with various sources of live feed. Almost all of them are aquatic in nature. The only ""easy"" product so far is Artemia, a particular species that under certain conditions produces durable cysts (""eggs"") that can be harvested and kept in storage for months or even years. The users can deliberately hatch these creatures on site and thus have a feed that is easy to use and adptable to their need. However, the supply of Artemia, especially first grade quality, is limited. The organisms are difficult to farm at large scale and natural habitats are rare and almost fully utilized.

The project delivers the first first pathogen free, ready-to-use and sustainable live feed for larval aquaculture industry that is industrially produced and does not use any marine ressources during the process. This can sustain further growth for the aquaculture industry and relieve the dependency of a global industry from one major feedstock that so far is difficult to replace. From a European perspective this will reduce dependency on imports as the state of the art products are not made here."

A large number of nematodes under the microscope

Portrait of a nematode. It has taken upp nutrients which are clearly visible in its digestive tract.

The image depicts a shrimp larvae that has ingested a large number of nematodes in a feeding trial