Project
AquaUP - Aquafeed Upgraded: Enhancing Immune Function of Fish with Seaweed-modified Functional Compounds
AquaUP is exploring seaweed as a sustainable resource for the development of blue food and feed in the Euro-Mediterranean region. It will pursue, and benefit from, a collaborative approach with co-creation interaction between an interdisciplinary consortium and together with key stakeholders, such as seaweed producers and fish feed producers.
AquaUP will address the following objectives from the call:
Exploring the potential of utilizing new sustainable ingredients-algae for blue feed production.
- Developing climate-neutral, resilient, and sustainable business solutions for blue feed production.
- Engaging seaweed farmers, feed producers, processors, stakeholders, and end-users.
- Fostering collaboration between science, citizens, and policymakers through co-creation.
Aim of the project
The aim of the project is to refine and valorise seaweed to produce seaweed-modified functional ingredients for aquafeed. We will achieve this by identifying benign pre-treatment processes to extract the bioactive compounds from seaweeds and green-techniques to modify the functional ingredient as a highly digestible nutrient with an immunomodulating function for the aquafeed industry. By identifying combinations of pre-treatment processes and green extraction technologies, the aquafeed industry will be offered multi-functional feed ingredients boosting fish health and growth. This will boost growth of both fed and non-fed aquaculture throughout Europe.
The role of the AFI group, as work package leader (WP5) is to evaluate by in vivo feeding trials the effectiveness of seaweed extracts as feed additives for fish to stimulate their immune response through gut microbiota modulation.
