ForestFeed - A Nordic blue-green value chain from forest to fish filet

Purpose and goal: ** Denna text är maskinöversatt **

Farmed fish provides quality animal protein to the growing population. But it faces challenges from disease and extreme weather events. Utilizing organic waste to produce functional ingredients for fish health in gaining interest. Nordic region´s underutilized forest biomass offers value creation potential. ForestFeed aims to strengthen the bioeconomy by bioprocessing forest side streams into sustainable microbial ingredients for aquafeeds.

Expected results and effects:

ForestFeed is expected to have significant effects and positive results in creating forest-based innovation and a circular economy in the Nordic region. It brings together industry-academia expertise along the forest value chain to convert forestry waste into valueable products for the aquaculture industry, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The expected outcome is sustainable growth in the blue and green sectors in the Nordic region.

Approach and implementation:

ForestFeed will use bioprocessing technique to process industrial forest waste into fungal biomass for feedstock. Pekilo will also be valorised into high-value bioactive components, e.g. nucleic acids and cell wall components. Immunomodulatory properties of Pekilo products will be evaluated in vitro using cell cultures. Growth performance and health status will be assessed by traditional and multi-omics methods and specific health marker detection in target samples from challenged fish.