So that's what they wrote!

Ooh! Work stuff! Fun.

Back last fall, MTT's client magazine Koelypsy interviewed me about my project. The end result is here. Cool, huh?

Yeah, I don't know what it says either. And I guess they didn't find it interesting enough to translate for the English version. But now, thanks to the magic of our new machine translation service, I finally know!

The powan is adapted to a hydroponics

In a comprehensive study it has been clarified that the effectiveness of the powan's feed use can be intensified with a refining choice. Another custom to choose is growing fast but the with a low percentage of fat powans. In that case also the fish's fat content will decrease and the taste improves.

The hydroponics of the powan of good reputation is on the increase. According to the research institution of game husbandry and fishing industry (RKTL) the powan was cultivated last year nearly 800 000 kilos and 4,4 million euros worthly. The cultivation fish which is more popular than the powan in Finland is only a rainbow trout.

MTT and RKTL try to intensify powan cultivation with a multidisciplinary study because the powan has not adapted itself to the cultivation beings well. In the study which has begun in 2004 the refining programme of the powan's ruokakalakasvatus is being completed the world's first one.

It tells about researcher Cheryl Quinton MTT that in the research project the genetic feed effectiveness of the powan has been analysed.

In the tests a method with which it is possible to measure the nourishment use of the fish individuals which swim in the swarm was used. A tracer visible in the x-ray had been put to the powans' feed. In the test the fish were nukuttaa, was described and the feed consumption was calculated with the help of the sign mass. It was possible to observe the living powan's 1 600 eatings with the method.

- The appetite, growth and fat content of Siikas descended moderately so so their genetic choice probably succeeds, Quinton crystallises.

And a lot people eat and the powans gain weight. Quinton showed that by choosing with a low percentage of fat fish overeating can be reduced. This is likely to increase the effectiveness of the fish's feed use.

Also soybean feed suited

Furthermore, it was compared in the studies the powan which is a carnivore - production properties - on feeds which contain traditional fish flour and a quite new soybean white.

The feed costs have risen, likewise, a worry from the ending up of the decreasing villikalakanta, fish flour. So the feed industry tries to reduce the share of the fish flour in the feeding.

- The same powan families which increased well on the kalajauhorehu grew well also on soijapitoinen feed. The fish which now we are choosing will be among the best also in the future when feeds are kasvisperäinen. The result encourages and the fish's refining programme, farmers and feed industry, Quinton reports.

Hydroponics to increase

The researchers expanded RKTL and examine powan families in the laboratory of Laukaa, in the sea waters of Rymättylä and on the inland waters of Tervo. Furthermore, they draw up the market research and the economic calculation models.

The special researcher, Juha Koskela, who co-ordinates the project states about RKTL that next year the summary of the project in which becomes clear what properties from the powan are worth improving will be completed.

- One choice circuit has been made but the results are seen at the earliest after four years. Then a produced powan is obtained to the market, Koskela says.

The questionnaire surveys of RKTL will promise in the year of the number of the cultivated powan into the even three million kilos of the one growing. Instead the nature fish asked by the professional fishers and the frozen food powan that has been brought from Canada probably stay in about a million kilo, both.

- The supply expands the product range in which case the whole fish loses its share. The special products are more expensive than a round fish. The powan producers succeeded in quadrupling the production in four years and the price has not really fallen. However, the output growth usually lowers the producer price, Koskela thinks.

Koskela uncovers that he has got the best powan in the archipelago of Turku. There was the powan cold-smoked by the powan farmer available over the rye bread that was greased with butter.

Right. That's much clearer. Powan does indeed seem to be another name for whitefish - I just learned that 10 minutes ago. This is the first time I've heard about hydroponics in this project though.