Nutrition
The aquaculture nutrition team work closely with industry and feed manufacturers to better understand nutrient requirements and develop diets for commercially important finfish and crustacean species. Focus on replacing fishmeal with Australian agriculture ingredients is a priority when producing more cost-effective, sustainable feeds.
To learn more about our Aquaculture nutrition research please contact Dr Igor Pirozzi.
Research focus
- Expertise in novel feed formulation, raw material assessment, nutritional and digestive physiology, bioenergetics and feed demand modelling
- State-of-the-art aquaculture nutrition research facility
- Industry relevant client service outcomes and postgraduate training
Current projects
Commercial feed validation for Australian Aquafeed manufacturers
The nutrition team works with several of the major Australian and international aquafeed manufacturers to assist in the independent assessment of the performance of their diets on a range of commercial crustacean and finfish species. The team also works to develop new, more cost-effective diet formulations using local agriproducts.
Industry partner for the ARC Training Centre for Facilitated Advancement of Australia’s Bioactives (FAAB)
The nutrition team is an industry partner for the ARC Training Centre for Facilitated Advancement of Australia’s Bioactives (FAAB) to look at new processing methodologies for low-value fisheries and agricultural commodities to allow their inclusion in aquaculture diets, and to evaluate new sources of protein and lipids for diets, such as Black Soldier Fly larvae.
Evaluating nanobubble technology in aquaculture
The nutrition team is working with leading engineers in evaluating the use of new technologies for the production of finfish in aquaculture. Nanobubble technology, the use of equipment capable of extremely efficient oxygenation of culture water, is one example of the work underway
Key publications
Booth, M.A., Pirozzi, I. 2021. The digestibility of raw materials by barramundi Lates calcarifer: Emphasis on the effect of inclusion rate on the digestibility of soybean meal and soy protein concentrate. Animal Feed Science and Technology 273: 114800.
Candebat, C.L., Booth, M., Codabaccus, M.B., Pirozzi, I. 2020. "Dietary methionine spares the requirement for taurine in juvenile Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi). Aquaculture 522: 735090.
Liu, A., Pirozzi, I., Codabaccus, B., Hines, B., Simon, C., Sammut, J., Booth, M., (2019). Digestible choline requirement of juvenile yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi). Aquaculture. 509, 209-220.
Pirozzi, I., Benito, M.R., Booth, M., (2019). Protein, amino acid and energy utilisation of juvenile Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi): Quantifying abiotic influences. Aquaculture. 513, 734439.
Dam, C.T.M., Elizur, A., Ventura, T., Salini, M., Smullen, R., Pirozzi, I., Booth, M., (2019). Apparent digestibility of raw materials by yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi). Aquaculture, 734233
Booth, M., Pirozzi, I., (2018). Making sense of nonsense: Using regression analysis to deal with highly variable data collected from a yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) digestibility experiment. Aquaculture. 485, 39-48.
