FHF-funded project: 45 percent reduction in sexually mature female lice in probiotic salmon

The iFelt research project has recently published its final report.

Previwo contributed to the project with its probiotic product, Stembiont® Vital.

“Our preventive probiotic product, Stembiont® Vital, was used on 10% of the fish in two sea cages in this trial. The results showed significantly lower levels of sea lice in the probiotic-treated salmon, particularly for adult female lice, where the reduction was as high as 45%,” says Anne Bakke Fylling, Product Manager at Previwo.

Previwo has developed a probiotic product, Stembiont® Vital, for use in the aquaculture industry. Probiotics are live bacteria that confer a health benefit to the host.

The research project was funded by FHF and aimed to develop a new method for conducting field trials in commercial salmon farming under real production conditions.

New technology enables real-time, high-resolution data

Approximately 10% of the fish in two sea cages were treated with Stembiont® Vital and fin-clipped (adipose fin) in connection with vaccination.

Following transfer to sea, the fish were continuously monitored using camera technology from Optoscale until harvest. The absence of the adipose fin enabled the system to distinguish between treated and untreated fish.

The study design allowed for individual-level data collection, resulting in approximately 400,000 observations during the sea phase and data from around 290,000 fish at harvest.

“With new camera technology and real-time data collection, we can obtain a much stronger data foundation for evaluating which measures are effective under real production conditions. We are pleased that the iFelt project has successfully developed this method, enabling access to real-world data,” says Bakke Fylling.

Significant effect on sea lice

Project manager Arnfinn Aunsmo from Salmalytics confirms that the project demonstrated a significant effect on sea lice in this trial.

“A key strength of this study is the large volume of individual-level data, which reduces the likelihood that the results are due to random variation. The lower prevalence of adult female lice over several months after sea transfer is particularly important for controlling lice outbreaks, as any reduction in reproductive rate is potentially highly valuable,” says Aunsmo.

Aunsmo also refers to the project’s final report available on FHF’s project website.

Read more about the results from the iFelt project here.