INVE's Selco® products another step forward
SELCO® is “the” acronym for a product that changed hatchery life since a long time ago: a small bottle with a heavy impact…
It was in 1985 that the first enrichment product for Artemia, the legendary SELf emulsifying COncentrate SELCO was first brought on the market by INVE. Generations of young hatchery trainees started to use it, and today, more than 50% of fry Mediterranean production is based on the latest Selco generations.
Loyal to the commitment of innovation in aquaculture, and continuing its 25 years of experience in enrichment products and techniques, INVE Aquaculture is proud to inform that it has reengineered its Selco® culture and enrichment line. Product Manager Pepino Candreva explains: “The original Selco® products, which were developed by INVE more than 20 years ago, are renowned in the industry. The application of a self-emulsifying concentrate in larval nutrition through bio-encapsulation in life feed was at the root of modern-day aquaculture, and is applied as industrial standard worldwide. Through the years, we continuously improved and extended our range with more specific, targeted and fortified applications but always safeguarding the reliability and quality features of the original. In the past 5 years, the productivity and quality output of the hatcheries substantially increased mainly thanks to upgraded rearing techniques and to live feed improvements.
Up until today, optimally enriched Artemia and rotifers still are the most advanced and flexible tools to improve larvae survival and quality, leading to better fish quality and more cost efficient production.
Therefore, INVE developed a new line of top class culture and enrichment products based on the very latest developments in larval rearing knowledge. Key words are quality, simplicity, reliability and flexibility. First products of the new line are Selco® S.presso and Selco® S.parkle.
S.presso is a very flexible liquid enrichment product for rotifers and Artemia offering a complete, fast, and clean enrichment with high nutritional benefits, while S.parkle is a rotifer culture diet that is used as an energizer for a consistent, performing and clean rotifer production.” SELCO® S.presso
In the development process of the liquid product Selco® S.presso, INVE first focused on the technology. “We felt we could improve the original SELCO technology of emulsification by adding certain very interesting new nutrients”, Candreva says. "In order to do this, we had to combine an emulsion with an aqueous suspension. Selco®S.presso is the first suspo-emulsion product in our Selco® range. The combined emulsion and suspension guarantees an optimal uptake of the various nutrients by the live plankton. Thanks to this innovative production technique, the DHA/EPA ratio is very high (9). Moreover, the product includes a.o. minerals, trace elements such as Zn and Se, lipids, vitamins and proteins, so it really offers the larvae a very ‘complete’ enrichment. Additionally, S.presso is clean and easy in use. It creates an unpolluted environment which allows a perfect rotifer and Artemia condition.
But the most important asset of the product is : FLEXIBILITY!
The product was tested at different densities and working conditions for both rotifers and Artemia. S.presso can be used from 1.000 to 5.000 rotifers per ml without any major problem other than adapting the oxygen level and the concentration of the suspo-emulsion.
Short and high density is also possible, reaching enrichment values of over 40 mg/g dw of total HUFA and a DHA/EPA ratio > 5 after 4 hours of enrichment with 5.000 rotifers per ml. Moreover, this ‘smart’ diet can be used as an overnight rotifer enrichment feed, with the enriched rotifers ready to be offered to the fish the next morning. Not one hatchery is identical to another, not one protocol can be repeated without changes and fine tuning from one location to another. So we decided to give our customers the possibility to “know and steer” their enrichment as they like, following the specific requirements of their production strategy. For Artemia, enrichment at high densities is also possible; we obtained comparable enrichment values and vitamin C levels using the enrichment dosages as in the protocol. So like the famous Italian coffee, S.presso stands for a unique concentrate of quality and know-how. It offers optimal flexibility and should make our customers’ life a lot easier”, concludes Candreva. SELCO® S.parkle
INVE’s second new Selco® product is a culture diet for rotifers called S.parkle. Here, attention has been directed towards achieving a cleaner and more consistent and performing rotifer production. S.parkle has an optimal behaviour both during preparation and in the culture tank. The surface is clean, without the formation of foam or flocks in the culture medium. As the cultures are cleaner, bacteria levels are lower, rotifer performance is more consistent, and harvesting of the rotifers is much easier. S.parkle is formulated with high quality protected algal components and purified ingredients following a strict quality control protocol. Thanks to that we can secure a consistent product aspect, with a nice green algal-like colour. The product is suitable for very short and productive cycles in any condition. Compared to a standard rotifer culture diet, S.parkle leads to a very stable and consistent rotifer growth, without unexpected crashes. It even allows rotifer generations to be re-inoculated up to 50 consecutive runs.
On top of that, S.parkle is cost-effective : Only 1,1g of S.parkle is necessary to produce 1 million rotifers against 1,4g of a standard culture diet. “Soon we will also launch an even more spectacular, off-the-shelf product for mass rotifer production in continuous systems, Selco® S.tream, which is based on a simple but innovative technology”, Pino Candreva explains. “And we will introduce a second suspension/emulsion product called Selco® S.pirit, an Artemia enrichment product with extra high levels of HUFA and a high DHA/EPA ratio.
So you see, 25 years ago and today, we still are dedicated to innovation”, concludes Candreva. For more information, please contact Pepino Candreva at +32/52.40.95.95 or p.candreva@inve.be |