By 2030, Australia is aiming to generate 55% more seafood reaching approximately 150,000 tons a year via aquaculture which would require 200,000 tons of feed a year. Currently, the aquafeed industry relies on importing ingredients from overseas, mainly soy products and marine-origin fishmeal, fish oil and krill meal ingredients. The agricultural sector produces large volumes of crops (72MT in 2022-23), including grains (58MT pa), canola (8.3MT), pulses (3.7MT), and cottonseed (2.5MT pa) which dwarfs the aquafeed demands. Sourcing and developing local ingredients that are priced competitively against soy products while providing good nutrition and functionality are major challenges faced by the aquafeed and broader feed industry.
This paper presents recent advances in the development of local plant protein (mainly canola) concentrates and their impact on culture performance against imported soy products. The Aquaculture nutrition research was carried out on both Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar and tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon, aiming at an incorporation of canola products of up to 30%. The results indicate soy products can be completely substituted by canola products successfully in commercially relevant aquafeed formulations. The research highlights a great potential for local production and processing of plant protein ingredients to benefit feed manufacturers and aquaculture farmers, and the broader plant and animal protein industry through accessing new added-value and export markets.