Funded with more than 700,000 euros within the National R&D&I Plan. Coordinated from Vigo, the consortium also includes CSIC and the Complutense University of Madrid
Food is the main cost in the aquaculture sector, hence the importance of intensifying knowledge about the mechanisms regulating appetite, food intake, and energy expenditure of fish, which will improve their food efficiency, a key factor in achieving much more sustainable fish production. The Fish Physiology Group (PhysToFish) at the Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo (CIM), led by Professor José Luis Soengas, has been advancing in these matters for years, a work that now gains new momentum with the achievement of the FishFedEx research project on food and energy expenditure in teleost fish, funded with over 700,000 euros within the National R&D&I Plan, of which 256,250 euros correspond to UVigo, coordinating the project; 243,750 euros to the Torre de la Sal Aquaculture Institute of CSIC, and 233,750 euros to the Complutense University of Madrid, the other two members of the consortium.
“The project will promote a change in concept in the way food and energy expenditure of fish have been considered to date by addressing the factors involved in stimulating (palatability and taste) food consumption, as well as challenges related to climate and the environment”, explains the coordinator. Additionally, he adds that “improving the design of feeding strategies will also strengthen the competitiveness of the Spanish aquaculture sector, which is one of the main objectives of Spain’s contribution to the Strategic Guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture 2021-2030, resulting in an increase in the number and quality of jobs associated with this sector”.
According to Soengas, the initiative will also study “the harmful impact of chronodisruption, thus serving as a guide in designing fish welfare policies”. Therefore, the results of the proposal will favor, in his opinion, the development of a sustainable, responsible, resilient, innovative, and competitive aquaculture, contributing to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
New lines of research and methodologies
Specifically, the initiative aims to open new lines of research in fish, such as characterizing taste mechanisms and their signaling to the brain, modulating feeding by microbiota products, modulating intestinal motility and detection, the relationship of peripheral serotonin with the immune system, energy expenditure modulation, or the impact of environmental challenges on feeding regulation. On the other hand, new methodologies can be developed for use in fish, such as isolating taste and enteroendocrine cells, measurements of feeding place preference and anxiety, or non-invasive telemetry tools to monitor welfare. Likewise, fish welfare conditions will be studied with information on nutrients that improve palatability, environmental conditions (light, temperature, contaminants) that disturb or favor feeding regulation, or peripheral factors that modulate dietary preference. Finally, new tools will be developed, such as transgenic lines for studying central taste pathways and possible anti-aversive compounds, and to understand the role of fatty acid detection and the circadian and reward systems in food intake.
Source: DUVI