Fats and Oils in Aquafeed Formulations

Abstract

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector and is expected to provide over 60% of the world's seafood by 2030. Lipids represent the major energy contribution in aquaculture nutrition, and as such, reach high inclusion levels in energy–dense aquafeeds. Lipids are a prominently studied nutrient in aquaculture, since they supply energy and essential fatty acids and because of the unique abundance of the ω3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that are found in fish. Lipids from fish are well known to have positive impacts on human health, and as such, the transfer of lipids from the diet to fish to consumer is of great importance. Therefore, the fats and oils that are supplied for the health, growth, and development of aquaculture fish must be of good quality and sourced sustainably for the future of aquaculture production. This article describes the role of fats and oils in aquafeeds. In order to understand how the fats and oils are utilized, this article reviews the lipid and fatty acid requirements, lipid digestibility, and lipid synthesis of aquaculture fish. It also describes the most common fats and oils that are used in aquafeed formulations, as well as novel, innovative lipid sources, and new methods of formulating fatty acids in aquafeeds. The different lipid and fatty acid compositions of these fat and oil sources in the diet can directly impact the nutritional and product quality of farmed fish. The practical consideration for using high levels of dietary lipid in aquafeeds is the feed quality, particularly considering lipid oxidation.

Lipid Deposition and Mobilisation in Atlantic Salmon Adipocytes

“…These FA were selected based on their relevance on current feeding practices. While the content of OA has increased in Atlantic salmon diets, that of PA and EPA has decreased [19,20]. Changes in dietary FA composition are reflected in the tissues and organs of the fish [21].…”

The critical importance of experimentation in biomarker-based trophic ecology

“…At intermediate trophic levels, it can be difficult to meet the nutritional requirements of consumers by feeding single species, particularly for longer-duration experiments, since such predators are rarely so specialized [28,31]. With finfish and similar species that are raised for aquaculture, formulated feeds, tailored to satisfy nutritional requirements, can be employed [36]. With such an approach, the fatty acid composition of the diet can be carefully controlled to represent both single prey items (to establish extent of predator modification) and diet mixtures (to test mixing model performance), similar to Kühn's approach [35] with dried diets for springtails.…”

DHA Modulates Immune Response and Mitochondrial Function of Atlantic Salmon Adipocytes after LPS Treatment

“…In commercial Atlantic salmon aquaculture, the feed in the grow-out period in sea cages usually contains high levels of lipids, which provide the main source of energy, promoting rapid growth and high feed efficiency [1,2]. However, this strategy comes at the expense of a marked increase in visceral fat deposition [3,4].…”

“…Recently, there has been much interest concerning whether similar health problems as observed for obese mammals may also occur in Atlantic salmon [5][6][7]. The traditional lipid source in fish diets comes from marine ingredients; however, there are not enough marine ingredients on the world market to cover increasing requirements from the aquaculture industry [1,2]. In order to intensify the aquaculture production further, more marine ingredients are increasingly being replaced 2 of 18 by vegetable oils (VOs) and plant protein sources [1,8].…”

“…The continuous replacement of fish oils (FOs) with new alternative oils in aquafeeds leads to changes in the dietary fatty acid (FA) composition. Hence, alternative oils have a considerably lower level of anti-inflammatory marine n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 HUFAs) (eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)), and higher levels of pro-inflammatory n-6 FAs [2,9]. The beneficial effects of EPA and DHA have been well documented in different animal and cellular models (reviewed by [10]), including Atlantic salmon [6,11].…”