Burak Aksoy, associate research professor in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment at Auburn University, developed two novel products to help reduce waste in commercial aquaculture feed pellets and meat products intended for human consumption.
The first patent was awarded for an aquafeed binder based on soybean hulls. These binders help the pellets stay intact in the water until fish and/or shrimp can consume them. Keeping the pellets stable in the water improves feed efficiency and fish health and reduces the cost to farmers from loss of feed. It also improves water quality. Poor-quality pellets will disintegrate quickly, causing excess waste, which leads to high ammonia levels and extreme algae blooms. Algae die-offs can wipe out an entire pond's fish population overnight.