Oil from oleaginous microbial biomass derived from Norwegian resources as a sustainable alternative to replace Fish/Plant oils in fish feed

Due to a rising global production of farmed fish, there is an increasing demand for high-quality protein and energy sources for use in fish feed. In particular fish oil in aquaculture has increased dramatically in the last two decades. In industrially formulated feeds, aquaculture is already consuming more than 70% of globally produced fish oil, creating environmentally unsustainable demand that cannot be met by the limited pelagic fish catch. Due to stagnant production of fish oil from marine resources, the future needs for fish oil in aquaculture industry are expected to outstrip the current supply within the next decade. Therefore, there is an urgent need for alternative and preferably land-based feed resources to replace the traditional fish oil sources. The OIL4FEED project aims at developing high-value oils for salmon feed from food by-products and lignocellulose biomass by use of oleaginous microorganisms. OIL4FEED develops a process for producing microbial oils with a high level of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega-6 monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids by oleaginous microalgae such as Schizochytriumand and Crypthecodinium and fungi such as Zygomycetes and red Basidiomycetes yeast from animal fat by-products and second generation sugars derived from Norwegian woody feedstock. This will allow, for the first time, to establish, a new value chain from "Norwegian by-products to Microbial Feed Oils" in Norway. Lignocellulose hydrolysates have been evaluated as a substrate for fungal and microalgal cultivations, and it provided a good biomass and lipid production. Different organic and inorganic, reference and waste nitrogen sources were screened and it was observed that waste urea is the most suitable nitrogen source providing the high biomass production. Further, waste glycerol was tested for yeast and microalgal growth and it was shown that addition of glycerol together with glucose results in a higher biomass and lipid production of microalgae. In addition, a shift in the pigment production was observed. For developing robust fermentation photonic-based at-line and on-line monitoring of the fungi fermentation and thraustochytrids production has been established. Vibrational spectroscopy techniques FTIR and Raman spectroscopy was used for both at-line and on-line monitoring of fermentation. FTIR and Raman spectroscopy at-line measurements allowed monitoring of the chemical composition (lipids, pigments, glucans, chitosan) of fungi and thraustochytrids biomass. Raman spectroscopy was also used for on-line measurements of both biomass chemistry and substrate consumption. Raman allowed also monitoring biomass production in bioreactor.

Due to a rising global demand for high-quality farmed fish, the use of fishmeal and in particular fish oil in aquaculture has increased dramatically in the last two decades. In industrially formulated feeds, aquaculture is already consuming more than 70% of globally produced fish oil, creating environmentally unsustainable demand that cannot be met by the limited pelagic fish catch. Due to stagnant production of fish oil from marine resources, the future needs for fish oil in aquaculture industry are expected to outstrip the current supply within the next decade. OIL4FEED will have a contribution to this aquaculture need by developing sustainable production of algal and fungal oils that can completely replace fish and vegetable oils in fish feed. The OIL4FEED project aims at developing high-value oils for salmon feed from food rest materials and lignocellulose biomass by use of oleaginous microorganisms. OIL4FEED will develop a process for producing microbial oils with a high level of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and n-6 monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids by oleaginous microalgae and fungi from animal fat rest materials and second generation sugars derived from Norwegian woody feedstock. This will allow, for the first time, to establish, a new value chain from "Norwegian rest materials - to - Microbial Feed Oils" in Norway. This will increase financial and environmental sustainability of Norwegian aquaculture, food and forest industry. OIL4FEED will deliver a complete set of new knowledge about the effect of algal/fungal oil on fish growth performance and health of fish. OIL4FEED is a spin-off of two NMBU research projects, Foods of Norway (NRC-SFI 237841030) and LipoFungi (NRC-Bionær, 268305), and it will be realized as interfaculty research project at NMBU, comprising REALTEK, KBM and BIOVIT faculties, with the involvement of international partner Cal-CAB and industrial partners Borregaard and Norilia.