Newsletter 4 2017 Foods of Norway

Research updates

Foods of Norway aims to make Norwegian fish and animal farming industries more competitive and innovative by developing novel feed ingredients from bioresources and ensuring efficient feed resource utilization.

During 2017, we have produced yeast from Norwegian biomass at the NMBU biorefinery laboratory made of Norwegian biomass solely. Together with world leading experts on yeast, we work to optimalize yeast as protein source in animal feed. So far, our findings look promising:

We have developed plans for converting seaweed and animal co-products from Norilia and Nutrimar to hydrolysates. Yeast strains grown on media based on Norwegian tree and seaweed biomass have been evaluated in diets for salmon. Salmon fed yeast produced from spruce trees and seaweeds at NMBU's biorefinery laboratory had high nutrient digestibility and growth rate.
Salmon fed yeast also had a healthy gut similar to those fed the fish-meal based control, while those fed the plant-based diet had inflammation in the distal intestine.
We have performed a piglet experiment to evaluate how piglets perform when they are fed yeast during the critical time at weaning when they are taken away from their mothers and switched from sow’s milk to a dry feed. The results suggest that the pigs liked the feed, they ate and grew well, and had fewer problems with post-weaning diarrhea, especially the first week after weaning.

In a mobile laboratory, Ingrid Marie Håkenåsen and her colleagues in the Foods of Norway team take lots of samples from the gut of the piglets.

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Liv R. Bjergene

We are also:

Upgrading the nutritional value of grass silage. Together with TINE and local Norwegian farmers, grass silage bales from 100 farms around Norway have been collected. In this project, we are using robust methods based on mechanical, chemical and enzymatic pretreatment. We are currently working on a small scale to provide knowledge for a large-scale experiment with dairy cows.
Developing methods to directly select for improved feed efficiency. In close collaboration with AquaGen, two experiments with salmon have been performed to establish methods to measure new phenotypes that can be used for future breeding programs. The methods developed will form the basis for a large-scale salt-water experiment.
Developing methods to evaluate the effect of the novel feed ingredients on gut health, including detailed high-resolution studies on microorganisms in the gut, gut metabolites, and gene expressions in specific areas of the digestive tract.

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SusPig kick-off

The kick-off meeting for SusPig EraNet project was held on 23 October 2017 in Madrid where SusPig members, project coordinators and stakeholders were present to get an overview of the role of each partners and to discuss joint activities. A major aim is to support future sustainable pig production systems. The consortium will also organize an international workshop in feed efficiency in 2018/2019.

The Foods of Norway Team

Many people are involved in our Centre for Research-based Innovation, Foods of Norway. In a series of short interviews we present the team members to learn more about their responsibilities, work and what they hope to accomplish.

Outreach

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The theme of this year's Forskningstorget was 'values'. Foods of Norway was present at Forskningstorget in Oslo 22.-23. September 2017, demonstrating and explaining to school children and other visitors how trees and seaweed are converted to feed.

New staff members

Alemayehu Kidane Sagaye. Research area: Ruminant nutrition, feed efficiency and greenhouse gas emission.

Leidy Lagos. Research area: Pig nutrition, health.

Vladana Grabez. Research area: Muscle/meat biology, meat quality and lipid nutrition.

Alexander Kashulin. Research area: Gut microbiota analysis, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics.

Stine Gregersen Vhile Research area: Animal nutrition and health and physiology.

Brankica Djordjevic. Research area: Fish nutrition and physiology. Planning and running fish and pigs trials.

Ôzgûn Candan Onarman Umu works primarily at the FeedMileage-proejct, but research in Foods of Norway and FeedMileage is interlinked. Research area: Muscle/meat biology, meat quality and lipid nutrition.

Ingrid Marie Håkenåsen is studying for her doctoral degree on novel protein sources for pigs.

Selina Hellestveit is studying for her doctoral degree looking at the effects of new feed ingredients on the intestinal immune system of weanling piglets.