🔬 Trial Spotlight: Evaluating Functional Feed Additives for Thermal Stress Tolerance in European Sea Bass

At AquaBioTech, we recently completed a controlled thermal stress trial on behalf of @Vetagro, aimed at screening multiple phytogenic feed additive prototypes for their ability to support fish performance in 10g European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) under high temperature conditions.

Over a 5-week period, fish were exposed to a period of gradually increasing, suboptimal, water temperature (25 °C → 30 °C), followed by 23 days at the higher temperature, simulating a thermal stress scenario. The trial tested three phytogenic diets (Treatments A, B1, B2) and a Control, each in triplicate.

📈 Key findings:

• All phytogenic treatments had positive performance responses relative to the Control..
• Treatment B2 gave the highest final average weight (37.99g) and SGR (3.68%/day) — both significantly higher than that of fish fed the Control (35.66g, 3.50%/day).
• Treatment A achieved the lowest FCR (0.96) — significantly better than that obtained with fish fed the Control (1.01), indicative of enhanced feed efficiency.

Importantly, these results were achieved within a short trial period, highlighting the potential of these additives in supporting fish performance under thermal stress.

We are proud to support companies like Vetagro in generating high-quality, science-backed innovations for the advancement of aquaculture production