The effect of dietary Camelina oil on health of salmon

Description

Traditional salmon feeds use high levels of fishmeal and fish oil to meet the nutritional needs of the fish, but these ingredients face large fluctuations in price and availability. Lower-cost alternatives have been investigated, including canola oil, soy oil, and poultry fat. Oil from the plant species Camelina sativa is another promising option that is already able to replace fish oil in diets for Atlantic Cod, Atlantic Salmon, and Rainbow Trout with little or no reduction in growth for feed efficiency.

However, substitution of dietary fish oil with vegetable oils (such as Camelina oil) in fish feed may elicit inflammatory changes due to the different fatty acid profiles. There is limited data available for changes to the gut, and no data for vegetable oil’s health effects on Chinook Salmon.

This project seeks to examine the influence of fish oil substitution by Camelina oil on susceptibility to intestinal inflammation of Chinook Salmon under culture conditions. Inflammation is energetically demanding and stressful, thus influencing disease resistance. By using Camelina oil to trigger gut inflammation in Chinook Salmon, results from this project will increase knowledge and understanding of these effects in order to develop better management practices surrounding disease impacts on cultured finfish species.

Program Name

Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program (ACRDP)

Year(s)

2015 - 2016

Principal Investigator(s)

Ian Forster
Research Scientist, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Center for Aquaculture and Environmental Research, Pacific Region
Email: Ian.Forster@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Team Member(s)

Simon Jones, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Biological Station, Pacific Region

Marije Booman, University of Victoria

Barb Cannon, Creative Salmon Co. Ltd.

Tim Rundle, Creative Salmon Co. Ltd.

Jack Grushcow, Linnaeus Plant Sciences Inc.

Brad Hicks, Taplow Ventures Ltd.

Collaborative Partner(s)

Creative Salmon Co. Ltd