Fish Nutrition and Current Issues in Aquaculture: The Balance in Providing Safe and Nutritious Seafood, in an Environmentally Sustainable Manner

Abstract

Global aquaculture production has increased in recent years and it is predicted that aquaculture will provide the most reliable supply of seafood in the future. However, there are many controversial issues in aquaculture regarding food safety, nutrition, and sustainability; many of which are directly related to the nutrition and feeds for farmed fish. These nutrition-related issues must be considered in order to achieve balance in safe and nutritious food production and sustainability in aquaculture. This review highlights recent studies and discusses new and innovative aspects in fish nutrition. Some issues in the area of fish nutrition require consideration and improvement, such as: feed and nutrient efficiency, overfeeding and waste, fish meal and fish oil replacements, fish health, biotechnology, and human health concerns. The findings reviewed in this manuscript demonstrate promise toward improvement of the aquaculture industry through nutrition. This review is an update in fish nutrition research, and provides insight on the progression and evolution of this field in order to meet the needs of the industry with the purpose to achieve a balance in seafood production and environmental sustainability. The outcome of this review encourages the use of biotechnology as a tool to meet seafood production and environmental sustainability, in order to ensure global food security in the future and to improve our resource use.

Biochemical characterization of microalgal biomass from freshwater species isolated in Alberta, Canada for animal feed applications

“…For this reason, N. bacillaris and Tetracystis sp. are more interesting for nutrition applications than C. vulgaris and M. reisseri due to their significantly higher levels (9-12 vs 5-7% of total FA) of α-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3n− 3) which is the dietary precursor for cellular biosynthesis of EPA and DHA [67]. In addition, due to significantly lower levels (13 vs 21-25% of total FA) of linoleic acid (18:2n−6), N. bacillaris and Tetracystis sp.…”

“…Although dietary fatty acid requirements and optimum n−3:n−6 ratios vary between farmed animal species; generally diets that fall below a ratio of 1:1 have been implicated with disease pathogenesis such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and impaired immune function while higher ratios promote an anti-inflammatory response in humans and animals resulting in improved cardiac and nervous system health and increased cell membrane fluidity [68]. Since animals lack the ability to convert dietary linoleic acid (LA; 18:2n − 6) into α-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3n − 3), the cellular fatty acid biosynthesis pathways shifts towards overproduction of ARA (20:4n−6) when n−3:n −6 ratios are low [67]. Under this situation, since ARA and EPA compete for the same lipoxygenase or cyclooxygenase enzyme, a greater proportion of high activity eicosanoids (inflammatory) are produced than low activity eicosanoids (anti-inflammatory) and animal health is compromised.…”

Effect of fish meal substitution with lima bean meal on growth and feed utilization in common carp fry, <i>Cyprinus carpio</i>

“…World aquaculture is developing fast enough to overcome the increase in fish demand for human consumption, while the amount of captured fish is declining (Reverter et al, 2014;Hixson, 2014). This development is due to the level of intensification of fish culture in both the developing and industrialized countries.…”

Effect of Citric Acid Acidified Moringa oleifera Seed Meal Based Diet on Nutrients Digestibility and Growth Performance of Cirrhinus mrigala Fingerlings

“…Studies performed to explore the growth and feed performance responses to CA acidified diets have shown encouraging results (Sarker et al, 2005;Pandey and Satoh, 2008). Nutrients digestibility and potential for nutrient retention and waste production are factors should be considered for sustainable animal production when considering diet formulations (Hixson, 2014). It was hypothesized that CA supplementation in MOSM based diet improves the growth and nutrient digestibility of C. mrigala fingerlings.…”