Ahrenhorster Edelfisch is Europe’s largest catfish producer with annual production of 150 tons of live, ready-to-process catfish (also known as Wels catfish).
Feed trials in aquaculture
The European catfish is the largest European freshwater fish and is characterised by its boneless meat and firm texture. The motto of Ahrenhorster Edelfisch is “[…] a healthy and high-quality food, without any use of antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals during production.” The company pays close attention to the composition of the feed in order to maintain this high quality claim.
The effect of ProEnMune on the health and mortality rate of the fish larvae by having it in the feed was tested experimentally under test conditions during Ahrenhorster Edelfisch's production process.
The effect of ProEnMune on the health and mortality rate of the fish larvae by having it in the feed was tested experimentally under test conditions during Ahrenhorster Edelfisch's production process.
Experimental procedure
31,500 individuals @ 0.05 g in 5 test groups. 4 groups were given feed that was enriched with ProEnMune. One group was fed without a ProEnMune supplement. The individual groups were put into breeding tanks under identical conditions. The test was conducted from February 22nd to March 10th, 2007 by Ahrenhorster Edelfisch GmbH & Co. KG and Protein und Energie Soltau GmbH.
Results
The groups that were given feed enriched with ProEnMune had twice the weight of the control group after 15 days. The mortality rate in the ProEnMune group was 21% lower than the control group. In addition, it was evident that the ProEnMune group was considerably calmer and exhibited less aggression towards one another. This means that larger groups can be kept in the same space without bite wounds reducing their numbers. In repetitions, the positive effects of adding ProEnMune on health factors, weight increase and stress resistance was confirmed without exception.
Feed trials in pig breeding
Lehr- und Versuchszentrum Futterkamp is one of the scientific departments of the Schleswig-Holstein Chamber of Agriculture. The effect of ProEnMune on the biological growth of weaned piglets was investigated by Futterkamp.
Experimental procedure
Two feeding groups were formed. Group A was given piglet feed that was not enriched. Group B was given piglet feed that was enriched at the beginning with 3% ProEnMune. That amount was reduced successively to 2% over the course of the experiment. On the average, the piglets were 26.1 days old and had a weaned weight of 8.22 kg. The gender distribution between the groups was the same to a great extent. In addition, since the animals in the feeding groups were kept in technically identical stalls at the same time, there were the same environmental and starting conditions. The test ran from August 30th to November 14th, 2006.
Results
The test showed highly significant differences between the control and test groups. The difference for the daily weight increase was 46g in favour of the piglets that were fed ProEnMune. It became clear that the supplement of ProEnMune had a positive effect on the daily weight increase in all weight classes, and was significant in the medium weight classes in particular.
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