2018
From baitfish feeding to balanced nutrition: A leap forward in sustainable tuna farming
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Contributor/Checkoff:
Soy Aquaculture Alliance
Category:
Export/Trade
Keywords:
Aquaculture
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Alejandro Buentello, Ichthus Unlimited, LLC
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
1830-352-0501-K
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
United Soybean Board
$160,284
Leveraged Funding (Non-Checkoff):
$40,000 matching support from Ichthus Unlimited.
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Institution Funded:
Ichthus Unlimited, LLC
$160,284
Brief Project Summary:

Juvenile yellowfin tuna were fed a long-term diet with high levels of soy-based ingredients, including protein concentrates and soy oil. There was no loss of tuna performance or decline in quality of the end product. The best feeding strategy was determined to be a diet with a high level of soy oil during an extended fattening period, followed by a short finishing period with high levels of marine oils. This strategy has the potential to reduce feed costs by about 30% over a complete fattening cycle, which is 8 months. The amino and fatty acid profiles of the resulting tuna steaks had the same nutritive value.

Key Audience:
Aquaculture nutritionists, aquaculture feed producers, tuna producers

Information And Results
Project Deliverables

- Increases in US soybean sales and soybean oil can be expected as early as Q1 2021 for the European
market
- A tailored tuna aquaculture session was organized at the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in New
Orleans, LA (Mar 2019) and included several presentations on tuna nutrition. Results from the
trials in Panama were presented at this meeting
- Results are also contributing to one Ph.D. dissertation at Texas A&M University (Vladimir Muñoz).
This document and associated information will be transformed into scientific manuscripts for
publication in peer-reviewed journals

Final Project Results

Updated February 16, 2021:

View uploaded report PDF file

View uploaded report 2 PDF file

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.