Unibio’s shrimp trial shows 75% improved survival rate

Sustainable protein company Unibio has explained the results of its first shrimp trial. The trial shows that the survival rate increased by 75% in whiteleg shrimp fed with diets containing Uniprotein®.Unibio's shrimp trial shows 75% improved survival rate

Unibio, one of the leading sustainable protein companies, has announced that an initial trial of its single-cell protein, Uniprotein®, on whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) has been conducted and delivered up to 75% improved survival rate compared to a control group fed with fishmeal.

In shrimp production, mortality, which can be as high as 80%, is a major challenge and an economical and ethical problem for the producer.  Accordingly, Unibio is undertaking a series of trials depicting an improving survival rate, substituting high-quality protein fishmeal with its own sustainable protein, Uniprotein®.

Initial tests, conducted by the Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentarias in Spain as part of the Valuewaste EU project, confirmed that substituting fishmeal with Uniprotein® increased survival rates. With a 100% inclusion of fishmeal the survival rate was 37% and by substituting all fishmeal with Uniprotein® the survival rate increased to 67% – an improvement of 75%.  Additionally, Uniprotein® performs as well as fishmeal on feed conversion ratio. The results indicate that the shrimp production industry could improve productivity and profits by replacing fishmeal with Uniprotein®.

Commenting on the trial, David Henstrom, CEO of Unibio said: “We are delighted with the positive results of this trial, which confirmed the viability of Uniprotein® as a replacement for fishmeal in whiteleg shrimp. Importantly, it has shown that Uniprotein® can increase the survival rate of shrimp by about 75%, which could potentially transform the shrimp industry by improving sales and increasing profits”.

IMPROVED IMMUNE RESPONSE
Based on results from the initial tests, a challenge trial with Vibrio harveyi was conducted to induce a stressor to the shrimp and investigate if Uniprotein® affected the immune response during the challenge. Results from this trial showed that Uniprotein® supplemented feeds – with 100% replacement of fishmeal – decreased the mortality from 16% to 2%. Such results indicate that Uniprotein® triggers an interesting immune response that needs further investigation.

FEEDING TRIAL & CONCLUSION
Unibio’s initial nutritional trial, which followed the lifecycle of a shrimp and was conducted over a five-month period, comprised 24 200L tanks of water connected to a RAS system each with 100 post-larvae shrimp and 7 different diets with various percentages of Uniprotein® replacing fishmeal.