The fish nutrition and aquaculture research unit was initiated over 22 years ago
by Professor Simon Davies and integrates with the strong tradition of fish biology
teaching and research within the School of Biological Sciences. It is the only
such facility specializing in this area in England today and has national and
international recognition for activities associated with the culture of farmed
fish and shellfish. Since 1991, some 16 PhD students have completed their
doctoral programmes in diverse aspects of nutritional physiology and
biochemistry and over 50 Masters degree projects have resulted from the Units
role in supporting the Masters degree in Applied Fish Biology.
Academic staff
Dr Simon Davies
Dr Awadhesh Jha
Dr Martyn Gilpin
Dr Janet Pearce
Dr Victor Kuri
Dr Daniel Merrifield
Technical staff
Peter Russell (Technical Manager)
Ben Eynon (Senior Aquarium Technician)
Roger Haslam
(Technical Support)
Liz Holland (Senior Nutrition Technician)
Nicola Blatchford (Food Science Technician)
The research interests address the need to evaluate alternative protein sources for fish diet formulations and develop cost effective feeds for aquaculture based on optimized protein and energy ratios. Investigations have determined the complete vitamin and mineral requirements for fish and more recently, much research has focused on anti-oxidant vitamins and carotenoids in promoting health and disease resistance.
Pigmenting carotenoids that impart the traditional colouration to salmon and trout has been a major area of investigation and experiments have tested the potential for the inclusion of novel carotenoids to replace the demand for synthetic pigments currently employed in diets for salmonid species. Other areas involve the design of diets that seek to minimise environmental impact with attention directed to the reduction in phosphorous excretion and improving the retention of such minerals within growing fish.
Work has centred on a variety of fish that include salmon, trout, seabass, seabream, catfish, tilapia and carp as well as several ornamental fish species of commercial significance. The unit has excellent laboratory facilities for the manufacture of experimental diets and 'state of the art' analytical equipment such as specialist HPLC and spectrophotometric capabilities and full feed analysis. This is all supported by a comprehensive purpose built aquarium facility comprising recirculation systems designed for temperate, tropical and marine fish with controlled temperature, photoperiodicity and defined water quality parameters.
During the last decade, the Unit has received over £4 million in external contracts, grants and support from government, overseas agencies and a host of major international companies. These include BBSRC/ DEFRA, EU, British Council, Royal Society and commercial companies such as Hoffman La Roche, Aventis, Mars, BASF, Lonza, Nutreco, Ewos and Biomar and Alltech Biotechnology.
The research output amounts to over 70 peer- reviewed publications in leading scientific journals in the field of aquaculture and fundamental animal science as well as numerous conference proceedings and reports. The research findings have been disseminated at prestigious international symposia with presentations in such nations as Japan, the USA, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Singapore and Australia.