Page 30 - New additives and ingredients in the formulation of aquafeeds
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of global animal feed production (Gill, 2007). Furthermore, global aquafeed
volume is fragmented over many species produced under different
conditions around the globe. This lack of critical mass has limited nutritional
research developments, particularly for tropical species of fish and shrimp,
to a fraction of what has been done on poultry and pigs. It is obvious that
optimizing formulation cost for fish and shrimp requires completing the gaps
in the current knowledge of nutritional requirements in function of growth
stages and culture conditions (eg. the role of natural feed supplements in
semi-intensive farming systems).
Apart from optimizing nutritional inputs and ingredient selection, so
far aquaculture nutritionists have spent little attention to the optimal
functioning of the digestive system of fish and shrimp. As ingredient
prices are rising, nutritionists may find new options for cost reduction in
the formulation by maximizing the efficiency of digestive and metabolic
processes which are at the basis of converting nutrients into growth. In
agriculture, various types of feed additives are being applied to enhance the
digestibility and/or utilization efficiency of nutrients, including exogenous
enzymes and various types of digestibility enhancers allowing to extract
more nutrients out of ingredients, flavours and palatability enhancers to
stimulate appetite, and a wide range of products (pre/probiotics, botanical
extracts, yeast derived compounds, etc.) to maintain a healthy gut. The
feeding biology, digestive physiology and nutritional requirements of
warm-blooded land animals differ significantly from those of aquaculture
organisms. Therefore, the direct application in aquaculture of nutritional
and/or functional feed additives developed for livestock is often not trivial.
The present article illustrates the potential to reducing cost of feeding in
aquaculture by the application of novel feed additives, targeting mainly to
improve the efficiency of digestibility and nutrient utilization. Furthermore,
we will illustrate the importance of maintaining gut health and a balanced
microflora for maximizing productivity and economics of fish and shrimp
farming.
Figure 1: Evolution of
fish meal and fish oil
prices during 1999-
2011 (source: http://
hammersmithltd.
blogspot.com)
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Innovative approaches to reduce feed cost in aquaculture: optimizing nutrient utilization and gut health
Fig. 1: Evolution of fish meal and fish oil prices during 1999-2011 (source:
).
