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Weekend Australian, Australia
30 Nov 2013, by NIGEL PRESTON
Advertising feature, page 10 - 506.70 cm²
National - circulation 254,891 (S)
ID 225700540

Copyright Agency licensed copy   (www.copyright.com.au)

ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE AND FOOD WINNER: Nigel Preston

NIGEL Preston's 10 years of research into the food requirements of prawns has the potential to slash costs for the aquaculture industry while boosting sustainability.

The work by Preston, CSIRO’s Food Futures Flagship director, and his team led to the development of the innovative Novacq prawn feed product and the prize for the Environment, Agriculture and Food category in The Australian Innovation Challenge.

The aim of the research was to take pressure off stocks in the wild, both of prawns and fish that are a usual source of prawn food.

We were interested in both assisting the aquaculture industry to improve prawn farming as well as enhancing environmental sustainability,” says Preston. “With the Novacq feed additive, farmed prawns grow on average 30 per cent faster, are healthier and can be produced with no fish products in their diet, which is a world-first achievement in sustainability.”

Research into prawns, in farm ponds and estuaries, revealed that they consume marine microbes, the smallest organisms in the marine environment. The Novacq product is made by transplanting those marine microbes into ponds covering several hectares, which provide a controlled environment.

“We started production in small tanks but we always knew that an answer had to be something that could be scaled up,” notes Preston. “A major advantage is that after you harvest a proportion of the microbes from the pond, they repopulate. So it’s a self-perpetuating system.

And the microbes themselves are pretty robust, which is understandable when you think about the environments where they are naturally found.”

The specific recipe as well as the harvesting methods are proprietary technology, which CSIRO is licensing to producers of feed, who then on-sell to prawn farmers. The harvested microbes are dried and added to feeds as a bioactive ingredient. The first full-scale commercial farm trial started in August last year, with the prawns ready for sale at Christmas. The trial was rated as highly successful.

“We are seeing the product spreading across the prawn farming industry in Australia,” Preston says. “We are also looking at opportunities overseas, especially in Asia. Our aim is to license one feed company in each country, and we are currently putting partnership arrangements in place in Vietnam and China.”

The next wave is CSIRO-generated technology that would see anti-pathogen additives mixed with the Novacq feed. The result should be more reliable crops of larger, healthier prawns. “We can see a lot of ways for this to go,” notes Preston. “A better product and less pressure on the environment. It’s win-win.”  

《澳大利亚周末》，澳大利亚
2013年11月30日， Nigel Preston
广告专栏 第10页-506.7 cm²
国家-流通刊号254,891(S)  ID 225700540

Nigel Preston博士：获得澳大利亚农业和食品类创新发展和环境奖

        Nigel Preston的为期10年的关于对虾的养料需求研究结果已经证实了显著减少水产养殖业的成本同时提高了发展的可持续性。这项工作由Preston（CSIRO的粮食期货专家）和他的团队负责，荣获novacq对虾饲料产品的创新发展和环境持续奖，为澳大利亚农业和食品类创新性挑战。本研究的目的是缓解对虾对饲料原料的压力，磷虾和鱼产品是常见的虾饲料原料。Preston说：“我们在可以为对虾养殖业提供帮助以及提高环境的可持续性两个方面很感兴趣。使用Novacq对虾饲料添加剂，可提高虾塘的对虾平均长速30%，虾更健康，且使用的虾饲料原料成分中不含有渔产品，这是世界上初次实现了可持续发展。”
        池塘和河口的对虾研究数据表明他们消耗海洋微生物，属于海洋环境中很小的生物有机体（即Novacq产品）。该novacq产品是在将那些海洋微生物移植到占地几公顷的池塘内，提供了一个可控的环境下获取的。Preston说：“我们开始在小容器内进行生产，但我们熟知量化生产的步骤和流程，一个主要优点就是，在你从池塘收获一定比例的微生物后，他们重新填充。所以这是一个自我维持的系统。且微生物自身是非常强大的，这是可以理解的，你觉得他们是自然存在。”“特定配方以及收获方法是专利技术，已将该专利技术授权饲料生产商，然后销售给虾农。收获的微生物经过干燥并添加到饲料作为一种活性成分。第一个全规模商业虾塘试验在去年八月开始，在圣诞节进行抓虾。试验结果非常成功。Preston说：“我们期望看到这个产品遍布澳大利亚对虾养殖业，也期待在海外，尤其是在亚洲。我们的目标是在每个国家授权一家饲料公司，我们目前正在越南和中国建立合作安排。”
        下一步CSIRO-生成技术是抗病原体与novacq混合型饲料添加剂。其结果应该是更大规模养殖并收获更健康的对虾。Preston：“我们可以看到大量为之努力的方式，一个更好的产品且减少对环境的压力，这是双赢的。”

说明：novacq是OBM产品在澳大利亚的名称。