Nutriera released the crayfish quality standards and accurate formula design model

On 25^th of April, Jingzhou Feed Industry Association conference and technical forum was held in Jingzhou. Dr. Yang Yong, president of Guangdong Nutriera Group, was invited to attend the conference. Mr. Peng Zhidong, technical General Manager of Nutriera, made a report named “Remodeling feed formula from crayfish processing and consumer needs”, same time, he represented Nutriera Group to release the crayfish quality standard and accurate formula design model.

Technical forum

“Hubei is the capital of Chinese crayfish, Jinzhou is the capital of Hubei crayfish”. As crayfish becomes more and more popular, Jingzhou and its jurisdictions such as Jianli is becoming more and more famous. In 2018, the area of crayfish culture in Jingzhou City reached 600,000 acres, occupied 60% of the crayfish farming area in Hubei Province, and about 31% of the country crayfish farming area. Among the top 10 crayfish production in China's counties and cities, there are 4 in Jinzhou. They are namely Jianli, Honghu, Shishou, and GongAn. Among them, Jianli and Honghu are ranked first and second. During this Jingzhou Feed Annual Meeting, Guangdong Nutriera Group was the only company invited to make a special keynote presentation on crayfish nutrition and feed, highlighting Nutriera's leading position in China's crayfish feed nutrition technology.

Mr. Peng Zhidong, Technical General Manager of Nutriera Group, made a keynote presentation

Crayfish is the only large-scale aquatic product that has risen in price in the past three years. The popularity of catering has promoted the rapid development of the crayfish industry chain, such as seedling, breeding, feed, and animal protection. But it also exposed a series of problems. For example, the quality of the seed degrades, and the quality of the feed is irregularly. The most prominent problem is that crayfish is currently major farmed in rice fields, this farming mode has made it impossible to evaluate the quality of feed by calculating the FCR. Some enterprises have very low feed pricing, and use low-cost premix or grass carp premix in the formulation, even without premix, which leads to many problems such as soft shells, unable to molt and low survival rate. But these problems are covered up by the hot scene of the crayfish harvest season -- "grab the crayfish to make money."

Soft-shell crayfish

Unhealthy intestine (left) versus healthy intestine (right)

Crayfish smoothly molting

However, as crayfish consumption is booming, consumers are concerning more on the crayfish quality. Mr. Peng Zhidong pointed out in his presentation that the current commercial crayfish generally has the shortcomings of “big head, small body, less meat in chela, and poor meat taste”, which greatly affects the consumer’s experience. If we do not pay attention on these issues, crayfish will be forgotten by the customer one day. And this is going to bring a very bad effects on the crayfish industry development. 

Big-head and small-body crayfish

In the report, Mr. Peng Zhidong also broadcasted a first-line interview video from the "Shrimp King" Guolian Group (Yiyang) crayfish processing workshop. Guolian experts particularly emphasized that the sensory requirement for the acquisition of high-quality crayfish is "small body size, complete and brawny cheliped, clean abdomen and the muscles are chewy.

"Crayfish King" – Guolian experts introduce the standard of high quality crayfish

Mr. Peng Zhidong clearly pointed out that these shortcomings in the quality of crayfish are mainly due to the mismatch between feed technology and farming model development. The crayfish farming model is developing towards an intensive, high-yield and high-efficiency direction. Therefore, using accurate values to evaluate feed quality and crayfish quality is the trend. For the first time in his report, he shared the "Flashy, Big, Fishy, Fresh, Sweet" Crayfish Quality Assessment Model based on the meat rate, fatness, chelating ratio, intestinal and liver health indicators.

Crayfish quality assessment model

The reports also published three concepts on core technology of crayfish accurate formulation models.

· Promote molting with a special premix containing natural plant extracts

· Applicate special natural microalgae materials to improve astaxanthin content

· Use imported fishmeal with specific histamine content to increase crayfish growth rate, meat content and taste

This is the first time that to build a crayfish accurate formulation model based on crayfish processing and consumption end demand. The quality evaluation model will have a profound impact on the healthy and orderly development of the crayfish industry.

The report also shows the excellent cases of many customers who have harvested crayfish recently, as a strong evidence for the scientific practice of crayfish accurate formula model.

Jiangling farmer’s crayfish had a good harvest

Small-body crayfish

Clean abundant crayfish

Healthy crayfish intestines 

Chewable meat

Mr. Peng Zhidong specifically mentioned the upgrade process of fish and shrimp polyculture feed in Chaoshan area of Guangdong and shrimp feed in Huzhou area of Zhejiang. The quality upgrade of feed is the most critical step in the process of upgrading from extensive farming to intensive farming, which is an excellent reference for the healthy development of crayfish feed and the entire industrial chain.

Upgrade course of fish and shrimp polyculture feeds in Chaoshan area of Guangdong

Upgrade course of Chinese shrimp in Huzhou, Zhejiang

As the leading high-tech enterprise in the industry, the core technology team of Nutriera Group have nearly 20 years of practical experiences in the field of white leg shrimp. And they have mastered a series of core technologies such as shrimp molting, growth, body shape regulation, immune enhancement and meat quality improvement. These technologies have directed reference value for the development of crayfish feed. Nutriera group is one of the earliest high-tech enterprises in China to carry out crayfish feed nutrition and healthy breeding. Its premix products have rapidly grown into the first brand in the domestic crayfish market.

Adorable crayfish with high quality taste and texture 

In the future, Nutriera Group will continue to increase its technical input, comply with the new requirements of different stages and different models of the Chinese crayfish market development, and apply advanced technology and quality products to serve all aspects of the crayfish industry. They will lead the industry to a healthy and steady development, and provide consumers with quality and delicious crayfish products.