Submitting a scientific project aimed at simultaneously reducing costs and increasing production, mitigating the environmental impact of aquaculture, so that it becomes more sustainable, was the challenge launched by World Aquaculture Society (WAS), in partnership with NOVUS, one of the world's largest aquaculture production and research companies (USA) to Master's and Doctoral students from all over the globe.
João Rito, PhD student in Biosciences at the University of Coimbra (UC), competed with his research project, entitled “Glycerol as a novel feedstock supplement for sparing dietary protein catabolism and thus reducing feed cost”, which «aims to test the inclusion of a by-product of biodiesel production, glycerol, in fish diets'.
The experimental diet proposed by the young researcher from Coimbra meets the requirements of the competition because, explains João Rito, «the traditional diet of aquaculture fish is based on a lot of protein, which presents two major problems for producers: it's too much. costly and releases, through waste, very polluting nitrogen compounds that are released into the environment (rivers and estuaries), causing a negative impact on the ecosystem».
The introduction of glycerol in the fish diet “can allow the replacement of a percentage of protein without harming the fish and has the great advantage of not releasing toxic compounds. In addition, we still solved a problem for the biodiesel industry because glycerol is a waste and, currently, there is no solution for its destination».
João Rito confesses that, when he ran, the hope of being selected «was practically nil and winning I never thought was possible». But it won. And, next June, he leaves for Vietnam, where he will spend a month internship at the NOVUS Research Center – Novus Aqua Research Center, in Ho Chi Minh City.
In addition to the internship, with travel and accommodation guaranteed by the company, the young man from UC also received a symbolic prize of one thousand dollars. What excites him most is «the unique opportunity to meet and work with world-class scientists in the field of aquaculture, participating in the research projects already underway at this center. I'm going to learn a lot because they work with species that we don't have and use technologies that don't exist in Portugal and even in Europe».
Guided by professors Miguel Pardal, from the Functional Ecology Center, and John Jones, from the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, João Rito was also invited to present part of his research work at a congress that will take place in the same city, during his internship .
Created in 1970, the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) is an international non-profit society, which aims to improve communication and exchange of information about aquaculture on a global scale. It brings together scientists, producers and service providers from the aquaculture industry.
Author: Cristina Pinto (Press Office – University of Coimbra)
Science in the Regional Press – Ciência Viva
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