Global animal health and nutrition company Alltech and the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Nofima) have entered a strategic research alliance that will focus on optimising nutrition and management practices in the salmon industry.

The three year agreement underscores applied research alliances as an important type of public-private partnership, which will create value and facilitate growth in global aquaculture.

The research from this partnership will be conducted in six of Nofima’s Norway-based research centres, including Tromsø, Bergen, Stavanger, Ås, Sunndalsøra and Averøy.

The purpose of the research alliance is to further contribute to the understanding of microalgae in modern feed formulations and their role in health, performance and flesh quality.

Alltech Algae, a company based in Winchester, Kentucky, United States, is one of the largest algae production facilities in the world. The company is exploring the applications of algae in animal nutrition and aquaculture.

Alltech's research alliance with Nofima is in line with the company’s global sales strategy, which sees aquaculture as a significant contributor to its four billion dollar USD sales goal.

Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech vice president and chief scientific officer said, “the salmon industry faces challenges that require a progressive partnership with research institutions that are focused on finding long-term answers. This agreement provides us with the structure to work openly and in collaboration on challenges, such as alternative feeding solutions for the salmon industry.

“This agreement with Nofima is a significant step in the advancement of these goals,” he continued.

“This alliance helps achieve a common goal shared by Alltech and Nofima: advancing science while stimulating business creation in aquaculture,” said, Dr. Øyvind Fylling-Jensen, president and CEO of Nofima.

“Nofima covers the whole aquaculture value chain, which is vital to a business that has the eyes of the environmental movement set on its operations. We need not only to know what works and what pays off, but also what is sustainable," he continued.

"Exploring the solutions provided by algae, together with a global business leader like Alltech, creates fantastic future prospects for research for the aquaculture industry and for the environment.”

This new partnership with Nofima follows the signing of another research alliance in March 2012 between Alltech and the University of Kentucky. The Alltech-UoK alliance is expected to generate research funding of USD2.5 million in the next year for collaborative projects in agriculture, medicine and basic biological sciences.