At BioMar, feed trials on customer sites are a fundamental part of our work. Feed trials are essential for optimising our formulations, developing innovative new diets, testing new raw materials and ensuring our diets perform well in commercial settings with our customers’ own fish and prawn genetic stocks. BioMar has extensive research and trial facilities strategically located across the globe to facilitate our trials and has a highly skilled and knowledgeable team of researchers. However, our local Technical and BioFarm teams are equally important and bridge the gap between local and global R&D. \  \ In 2024, BioMar Australia ran multiple local trials led by our Technical and BioFarm teams. These trials are run in close collaboration with our customers or research partners and tested in real world settings to customise feeds for different species or life stages and to optimise feed for our unique environmental conditions in Australia and New Zealand. Local trials have been instrumental in developing new and improved diets for emerging species such as Murray Cod and Grouper, and other more established species like King Salmon in New Zealand, and Barramundi and Black Tiger Prawns in Australia. For well-researched species such as Atlantic Salmon, our local trials are necessary to optimise our feed to Australia’s unique environmental conditions (such as warmer waters) and other situations specific to our region.

Feed cost often accounts for the largest production cost in aquaculture, which is why feed performance is a major competitive parameter for BioMar. To measure performance BioMar typically examines Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), Specific Feed Rate (SFR), Specific Growth Rate (SGR) and Condition Factor. These metrics look at relationships between feed and growth and examine fish health, informing us how much feed the fish need to eat to attain their end weight, how much (relatively) they have grown over the trial period and how this changes their body shape compared to length.

In addition to measuring performance metrics, feed trials also allow us to test new raw materials and optimise our feed formulations. Testing new, sustainable novel ingredients in commercial settings gives us the opportunity to identify any unforeseen effects before implementing them into our recipes. We can also adjust feed formulation based on what we believe is working best for the fish, maximising benefits to fish health, human health and our feeds sustainability profile.\ \ As aquafeed specialists, we will continue to invest heavily in trials and R&D because 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 about innovation, and 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 about making aquaculture more sustainable.