The F3 – Future of Fish Feed is holding the fourth edition of the aquaculture feed contest F3 Krill Replacement Challenge. Registration will be open until August 31, 2023, for the contest, which will award a $100,000 grand prize.
The F3 (Future of Fish Feed) recently launched its fourth contest – the F3 Krill Replacement Challenge – to find substitutes for krill in aquaculture feed. Krill is a popular ingredient in aquafeed where it is often used as an attractant, palatant and potentially for its nutritional benefits. The F3 judges will select ten registrants with the most commercial promise that meet the challenge rules to compete for the USD 100,000 prize.
A wide variety of marine life depends upon these tiny shrimp-like crustaceans at the base of the marine food chain including whales, penguins, and commercially important wild fisheries like salmon, rockfish, squid, and sardines. Sharp declines in Antarctic krill densities have occurred in recent years, which are thought to be the result of climate-induced changes in ocean temperature, currents, acidification and regional overfishing.
The commercial krill fishery located in the Antarctic has steadily increased production over the last decade from a high of 200,000 tons in 2010 to 450,000 tons in 2020. The rapidly expanding industrial fishery raises important sustainability concerns, especially due to climate change.
Reducing dependence on wild-caught marine ingredients such as krill by substituting with more sustainable ingredients can help future-proof seafood supplies to meet the global seafood demand and ensure resiliency of marine ecosystems.
Prior to launching the contest, the F3 Team conducted a preliminary comparative feeding study of Atlantic salmon to evaluate whether a krill replacement challenge could be designed based on the performance of Salmo salar during 90 days of feeding. Two prerequisites were needed to hold the Challenge: (1) a plant-based feed with krill (positive control) needed to perform as well as a fishmeal control; and (2) that a plant-based feed without krill did not perform as well as the two controls above.
The results confirmed that there existed a base feed that needed krill to perform as well as a fishmeal control. Using this base feed, the F3 Team could add each of the different Challenge Entrant’s Krill Replacements so that each Entrant’s feed performance could be compared against each other and against the controls.
METHODOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
The Challenge Host will be responsible for the proper conduct of the experiments in consultation with the F3 Team, Judges, and the Scientific Review Committee. The Trial will consist of up to twelve treatments: two controls and up to ten Entrant Experimental feeds.
All treatments will be fed to Atlantic salmon in replicate tanks for 12 weeks. Throughout the trial(s) weight gain, survival and feed conversion ratio will be measured. The treatments have the following labels and composition:
Control Diets:
1.Krill Negative Control (KNeg) = F3 plant-based feed* + 0% krill (5% wheat flour added)
2.Krill Positive Control (KPos) = F3 plant-based feed* + 5% krill
*The F3 (fish-free feed) plant-based feed includes 6% poultry blood meal as an essential amino acid source. The F3 Team defines “plant-based” as consisting mostly of plant materials, with a small amount of (non-marine) animal protein included.
Experimental Treatment diets each based on Entrant’s F3 Krill Replacement:
F3 plant-based feed* + up to 5% F3 Krill Replacement from Entrants. If <5% inclusion is requested by the Entrant, the F3 Chief Scientific Officer will work with the Entrant and feed manufacturer to determine how to make up the remaining composition, likely with wheat flour. The formula for the Experimental Treatment diets is below.
All treatments will undergo the same protocols, including feeding regime, water quality monitoring, growth and survival measurements. Protocols and growing conditions for the Challenge Trial will be similar to those implemented in the preliminary comparative feeding study.
WINNER DETERMINATION
The prize will be awarded to the Entrant(s) whose F3 Krill Replacement demonstrates the best “Performance” during the Challenge Trial based on differences that are statistically significant. “Performance” is defined by a combination of weight gain, feed conversion ratio and survival observed during the Challenge Trial. Performance will be measured by assessing statistical rather than numerical differences across treatments using the following metrics:
Weight Gain: Fish for all treatments will have an initial weight that is not statistically different. Fish weight gain will be expressed in terms of percentage weight gain with respect to the Krill Positive group, e.g. 90% of KPos, 110% of KPos.
Weight gain is defined as the percentage increase of the animal’s initial body weight.
The experimental treatment that has the greatest increase in fish biomass is likely to win. Any mortality events are factored into this method.
Feed Conversion Ratio & Survival: In the case of a statistical tie in weight gain, the winner will be selected by the Challenge judges factoring in the best (lowest) Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and (highest) survival rate.
Registration for the F3 Krill Replacement Challenge is open until August 31, 2023. For more information on the preliminary comparative feeding study and the F3 Krill Replacement Challenge, visit its website (f3challenge.org) or contact the F3 Team at f3krillreplacement@gmail.com
