Methodology
With 21 partners, ARRAINA brings together a multidisciplinary consortium from research, industry and SMEs based across Europe that is guided by the ethos of maintaining European aquaculture industry productivity while addressing the issues of nutritional value, food safety and environmental impacts.
The ARRAINA project is divided into eight inter-linked Work Packages (WP) to achieve its aims, and resolve the research questions raised. To reach this overall objective, the project will:
- Identify targeted integrative tools that accurately measure and predict metabolic and health effects
- Test blends of novel sources in commercial feeds for their nutritional value and new methods to deliver nutrients and supplements
- Define quantitative nutrient requirements for major European farmed fish species
- Develop integrative approaches linking pathways of energy allocation, protein accretion and identify nutritional drivers in alternative ingredients that may modify metabolism and fish performance
- Measure long-term effects of changes in diet formulations on fish performance, such as threshold effects, nutritional intervention in early life history stages, and carry-over from maternal diets to larvae
- Evaluate the environmental impacts of long term effects of changes in aquaculture feed formulations and effects on product quality
- Improve the use of alternative diets by adult fish through the nutritional programming concept
- Design and deliver new pioneering training courses in fish nutrition to increase research capacities and expertise, particularly in countries of the enlarged EU
- Bridge the gap between the scientific community and the commercial sector by undertaking problem-based research and enhanced knowledge transfer
