If the FAO forecasts are correct, predicting that food production will need to double to meet the needs of a population reaching 9 billion by 2050, actions are required to ensure sustainability in the production process of food sources. Since fish will be one of the main sources due to its protein content and other essential nutrients, modern aquaculture demands alternatives that maintain a healthy microbiological environment while ensuring high production yields.
In this context fits the doctoral thesis of Paula Daga Miraz, titled “Selection, Development, and Production of Probiotic Microorganisms for Implementation in Aquaculture Feeding Systems,” supervised by professors Gumersindo Feijoo and María Teresa Moreira from the Environmental Engineering and Bioprocesses Research Group of the Department of Chemical Engineering at USC.
The thesis develops a proposal for probiotic microorganisms for application in aquaculture feeding systems, improving survival rates during the early stages of cultivation while achieving high production yields.
The work encompassed both basic and applied research tasks, allowing knowledge to be transferred from the laboratory to the production process. At the facilities of the company ABIASA in Tui, industrial-scale production of various probiotic formulations—previously shown to have microbial activity—was carried out. This production, in turn, enabled pilot-industrial trials at the Marine Science Station of Toralla in turbot cultivation, demonstrating that the addition of probiotics improved larval survival rates (an increase of 3.8%) and also led to larger adult individuals.
The thesis defense, held this Friday at ETSE, was evaluated by a panel composed of Juan Manuel Lema Rodicio, Professor of Chemical Engineering at USC; Jorge Sineiro Torres, Professor of Chemical Engineering at USC; Juan Miguel Rodríguez Gómez, Professor of Food Technology at the Complutense University of Madrid; Antonio Maldonado Barragán, Researcher at CSIC in Seville; and Carmen López Díaz, postdoctoral researcher Juan de la Cierva at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Source: USC Newspaper
