CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHILEAN SALMONOID FEED-INDUSTRY

The Chilean fish feed industry has developed rapidly in the as 6 years, in both the amount and the quality of feed. The industry now produces approximately 100 000 mt of feed per year, up from less than 8000 mt 6 or 7 years ago. The number of feed producers has increased from several to 22 during this period. The quality of Chilean salmon feed has improved greatly in the last few years as well, advancing from the North American technology and formulations used in the early 1970s to produce moist feeds and pelleted salmon feeds to the industry's current level of quality, where the best feed producers manufacture feeds equivalent to the best salmon feeds produced in Europe and North America. In making these advances, the Chilean industry has not simply copied European and North American technology, but rather taken the best elements of foreign fish feed manufacturing and adapted them to Chilean needs. Both pelleted and extruded feeds are being produced for coho salmon, Atlantic salmon, and rainbow trout. The advantages normally associated with extruded feeds, such as higher lipid content and a slowly sinking pellet, are not critical concerns in the Chilean salmon industry. The range of feed ingredients available to the Chilean feed industry is lower than in Europe and North America, which limits the number of possible feed formulations in Chilean salmonid feeds. Thus, the quality of feed ingredients, particularly fish meal, and the quality of manufacturing are more important determinants of feed quality than is feed formulation. Future needs for the Chilean fish feed industry include less expensive and more efficient methods of pigmentation, a better understanding of the effects of biogenic amines on fish growth and product quality, and development of feeds that are less costly per kilogram of product sold, In the future. development of low-polluting feeds may also be desirable.