Feed test facility set for Chile
Skretting plans to build a new aquaculture research centre (ARC) in Pargua , near Puerto Montt, to test its own feeds as well as those produced by other companies.
The US$ 5.5 million experimental unit is designed to assess balanced diets for salmonids at different growth stages, for fish from 0.15g to 5kg in weight.
The new facility will have a mixed water flow: open flow for incubation, first feeding and fry; and RAS for fry, pre-smolt, smolt and fattening stage. Meanwhile, nutritional challenge rooms will be able to operate with mixed flows, the company said.
According to the information submitted to the Environmental Assessment Service, in total, the ARC Pargua will require only 32 litres of water per second to maintain its farming processes in all units.
The project will use freshwater from a well located within the premises of the Skretting feed manufacturing plant in Pargua (7 litres per second), and a seawater supply through an uptake by infiltration buried in the subtidal zone (25 litres per second).
The aim is to analyze production parameters such as growth, FCR, digestibility, fillet quality (colour, texture), gene expression in various organs and food sustainability. To do so, the unit will be composed of 3 areas: administration and support services; production and testing; and machine rooms.
Skretting plans to start construction in early December. Once operational, the facility will require 12 people as a permanent workforce, and will have a capacity to house up to 24 staff.
