It is informed that Nofima Ingredients in Bergen has developed a technique to produce pellets from shrimp shell on commission for potato producers’ organisation Ottar. The pellets were tested over the summer in small-scale trials in a climate laboratory and large-scale field trials at Bioforsk Nord and in the field at the property of one of Ottar’s members.
Tor Johansen at Bioforsk Nord at Holt, explained that previous trials have shown that shrimp shell is suitable as fertilizer. He added that the pellets were developed to make the fertiliser more user-friendly. He told that this year’s trial confirms that, but still there are some challenges remain unsolved. Johansen informed that the main challenge is to release the nutrients at the correct time.
According to Johansen the nutrients become available a bit late, but this is not necessarily a disadvantage. He continued saying that the conclusions from this year’s trials are unclear, but no one doubts the potential of shrimp shell as a fertiliser. The project, which is owned by Ottar, wants to verify whether it is possible to use shrimp shell as fertiliser for organic cropping. Fish waste has long traditions as fertiliser. Shrimp shells contain nutrients in high concentrations.
