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CSIRO creates sustainable prawn super food

Australian researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation (CSIRO) have created a prawn super food that will allegedly make the crustaceans grow 30 percent faster.

The research team lead by Dr Nigel Preston, have found a way to grow marine microbes in controlled environments which have been designed to imitate conditions of mangroves and estuaries as reported by The Australian.

These microbes are then harvested and converted into the super food additive, Nocacq.

"We have developed a game-changing technology that will allow the industry to grow in a far more sustainable way," he told AAP.

"It's better for consumers, the environment and prawn farmers."

Traditionally, farmed prawns have been fed pellets which Preston says are highly unsustainable as the core ingredient consists of fish caught in the wild. Preston says that Novacq is not only sustainable, but it is also more nutritious and speeds up the metabolism.

“We've done trials with wild prawns that have access to their natural food and to these foods and we find that, again, we get a spectacular 30 to 40 per cent boost in growth rates," said Preston.

"The conditions you need to cultivate these organisms on a mass scale are quite low-tech and quite cost effective,"

"Think of the marine equivalent of a wheat field, we've done that."

 

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