The aquaculture feed industry is made up of a multitude of larger and smaller feed manufacturers with very different scientific and technical capabilities and logistical and financial resources. The large number of aquatic species and life stages cultivated, the diversity of production systems used and the broad number of feed ingredients used in the production of feed combine to create a challenging environment for aquaculture feed formulators around the world.
The International Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (IAFFD), previously known as the Asian Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (AAFFD), is an open access, free of charge, database that answers some important needs of this industry. The IAFFD was developed by a consortium comprised of the University of Guelph’s Fish Nutrition Research Laboratory (UG-FNRL Guelph, ON, Canada) and Seafood Consulting Associates (Bangkok, Thailand), with the support of the United States Soybean Export Council (USSEC), MITACS (Canada) and the Maximizing Agricultural Revenue through Knowledge, Enterprise Development and Trade (MARKET) Project, an initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Around 40 specialists from different Latin American countries attended this first seminar, which was held during August in Guadalajara, Mexico. The distribution of this free tool and related training to nutritionists and aquaculture feed manufacturers in Latin America responds to the effort put into the development of the data base during the last four years. Its dissemination, starting now in Latin American countries, should contribute greatly to the intensive development of cost-effective aquaculture feeds.
The IAFFD is comprised of two major modules: 1) the Feed Ingredient Composition Database (FICD) containing detailed information on the chemical composition and nutritional value of more than 500 ingredients, and 2) the Aquaculture Species Nutritional Specifications Database (ASNS) including nutrient specifications for over 30 species, or groups of species, that are commercially important in Asia and elsewhere.
Data in ASNS is derived largely from a nutritional modeling effort that is built on the standardized compilation, integration, and analysis of available scientific and technical data. Data in the FICD comes from the compilation of information from a variety of documents and databases on the chemical composition and nutritive value of about 400 feed ingredients that can potentially be used in aquaculture feeds.
All the data contained in this database are guidelines. These guidelines are intended to assist international aquaculture feed manufacturers in making informed decisions regarding the formulation of feeds for different species at different life stages or different weight ranges. The IAFFD is a reference tool and not a substitute for the research, analyses and due diligence that a feed manufacturer should carry out. The tool and all available information on the data base can be accessed freely at: www.iaffd.com . Workshops and seminars such as this one will continue to be held in Latin America during the upcoming year, and details will be available at USSEC’s events website once the information has been confirmed. Link: https://ussec.org/events/
Written by: Aquaculture Magazine
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