Astaxanthin for aquaculture

The microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis is considered to be one of the most sustainable natural sources of the secondary keto-carotenoid astaxanthin. This is characterized by a characteristic red color, has a high antioxidant capacity and is formed within the microalgae depending on various stress factors.

The use of astaxanthin in aquaculture technology poses an enormous economic challenge for salmon farmers, as the expensive colorant must also be purchased and added to the feed. For this reason, synthetic sources of astaxanthin are often used. However, this results in a reduction in the quality of the end product, as synthetic astaxanthin does not have the stereoisomeric composition of natural astaxanthin. Another disadvantage of industrial aquaculture technology is that the feed used requires a high proportion of protein, which is currently largely provided by the use of fishmeal or, more recently, transgenic soy. Such a process is therefore neither sustainable nor ecologically justifiable and urgently requires an alternative.

The result of the “WinBio” research project is a patented process that makes it possible to produce natural astaxanthin from algae economically and convert it into a new type of animal feed component without any losses. The basic innovation consisted of enriching astaxanthin from algae with the help of insect larvae, thus avoiding technically complex processing.

The larvae act as a natural bioreactor and at the same time as a high-quality protein supplier, so that the innovative combination of microalgae and insect biotechnology is intended to generate a novel and sustainable feed for industrial aquaculture technology.

As a result, fish feeding trials have shown that the new feed combinations lead to better storage of astaxanthin in salmon meat and also improve growth rates.

Project partners: ventury GmbH ; Katz Biotech AG
Duration: 01.09.2018 – 28.02.2021
Funding body: PTJ Project Management Jülich on behalf of the BMBF