High quality fish oils for use in fish feed are in short supply. There is therefore a need to utilize alternative fat sources in feed for salmon. In her pioneering study of fatty acid metabolism in salmon, Moya-Falcón of AKVAFORSK has come closer to an understanding of how alternative fat sources are metabolized in salmon.
Several factors play a role
Moya-Falcón's research has shown that vegetable oils in feed stimulate the ability of salmon to store long, unsaturated essential fatty acids. Her work has also shown that water temperature affects the salmons' ability to store and metabolize various fatty acids. The addition of bioactive fatty acids (sulphurous fatty acids) to salmon feed resulted in a higher metabolism rate and increased level of omega 3-fatty acids in membrane lipids.
Corina Moya-Falcón, 32-years old, is a marine biologist educated at Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain. Employed as a research fellow at AKVAFORSK in 2001, she was also admitted to the doctoral programme at UMB the same year. Her dissertation adviser has been senior researcher Dr. Bente Ruyter of AKVAFORSK.
The evaluation committee consisted of Professor Marisol Izquierdo (Instituto Canario de Ciencias marinas, Canary Islands, Spain), Dr. Philos. Laila Norheim Larsen (Epi-Gen, Akershus University Hospital) and Professor Kjell-Arne Rørvik (Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences (IHA), UMB).
The defence took place at IHA, UMB in Ås, on Friday, 10 June 2005, 10:00 am in room H185. The topic of the doctoral lecture was "An overview of core receptors and their function in the metabolism of fatty acids. What is known about these processes in fish?"
