Pukyong National University Students Develop Custom Feed for Herbivorous Turtles... Win Grand Prize at Competition

Korean Society of Fisheries Science Conference Unveils 'Customized Turtle Feed'

Students from the National Pukyong University won the grand prize at the 'Field-based Problem Solving Idea Contest' held during the Korean Society of Fisheries and Sciences (President Lim Hankyu) academic conference.

Moon Junhyuk, Park Sangmin, and Lee Jiyoon, students majoring in Aquaculture Applied Life Science at National Pukyong University, received the highest evaluation among participating teams at the recent contest held at National Mokpo University with their project 'Kupi, Customized Turtle Feed for Healthy Pet Turtles.'

They were recognized for their excellence by developing customized feed for herbivorous turtles, noting that most commercial turtle feed is simply repackaged fish feed or relies on imports.

To address issues such as metabolic diseases or overgrowth caused by high-protein diets when feed is used indiscriminately, they optimized the crude protein content and the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio to suit herbivorous turtles.

In particular, this feed is evaluated as excellent not only for nutritional management but also for environmental protection, as it uses plant-based ingredients such as spirulina and chlorella instead of fish meal, and actively utilizes alternative proteins like soybean meal and black soldier fly larvae.

To further develop their idea, they secured expertise under the guidance of Professor Lee Seunghyung and doctoral student Jeon Hyuncheol from the university's Feed and Nutrition Laboratory.

The students who won the grand prize participated in the contest with support from the National Pukyong University LINC3.0 Project Group (Director Ryu Jiyeol)'s field-based problem-solving program and career and entrepreneurship support programs.

Students of Pukyong National University are posing for a commemorative photo after winning the grand prize at the Field Learning Problem-Solving Idea Competition.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.