Microencapsulated diets to improve bivalve shellfish aquaculture for global food security

Abstract

There is a global need to sustainably increase aquaculture production to meet the needs of a growing population. Bivalve shellfish aquaculture is highly attractive from a human nutrition, economic, environmental and ecosystem standpoint. However, bivalve industry growth is falling behind fish aquaculture due to critical problems in the production process. Feed defects, disease, and quality issues are limiting production. New advances in microencapsulation technology have great potential to tackle these problems. Microencapsulated diets could efficiently deliver high-quality nutrients, disease control agents, and quality enhancers to bivalves. Microencapsulation has the potential to drive improvements in bivalve production, reduce production costs, enhance human nutrition and minimise impacts on the environment.

From Pest to Profit—The Potential of Shipworms for Sustainable Aquaculture

“…Regarding feed for shipworm aquaculture, waste wood, live algae, and artificial or microencapsulated feeds are all viable options. The use of wood may allow the recycling of waste, and the use of microencapsulated feeds (Willer and Aldridge, 2017, 2019b) would avoid major challenges faced by conventional algal feed including quality inconsistencies, contamination, and poor shelf life (Willer and Aldridge, 2019a). Research would allow identification as to whether a combination of these feeds or a single feed is most optimal for growth.…”

“…Finally and crucially, a thorough economic assessment of the entire proposed production value chain will be required in order to ensure shipworm aquaculture is scalable and financially viable. Inadequate assessment could lead to expensive bottlenecks in production (Willer and Aldridge, 2019a), or at worst could result in complete failure of shipworm aquaculture (Shang, 1985).…”

“…Aquaculture is already the world's fastest growing food sector, growing 8.2% pa between 1970 and 2010 (FAO, 2020a,b). Growth has however been focussed on species such as salmon and shrimp, which are expensive to consumers and unsustainable to farm due to a reliance upon foods comprising predominantly of fish meal and oil from wild-caught fish (Willer and Aldridge, 2019a). The farming of bivalve shellfish (clams, mussels, oysters) is a highly attractive alternative.…”

“…The farming of bivalve shellfish (clams, mussels, oysters) is a highly attractive alternative. Bivalves have a higher protein content than beef, are a rich source of essential fatty acids and micronutrients, have a lower environmental footprint than all other meats and many plant crops, and are cheap to produce (Willer and Aldridge, 2019a). There is outstanding potential for growth of bivalve aquaculture; developing just 1% of the suitable coastline worldwide could fulfill the protein requirements of over one billion people (Gentry et al, 2017;United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, 2020).…”

Vitamin Bullets. Microencapsulated Feeds to Fortify Shellfish and Tackle Human Nutrient Deficiencies

“…Bivalves have a higher protein content than beef, are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, and have some of the highest levels of key minerals of all animal foods (16). They are also very sustainable to farm, having a far lower environmental footprint than animal meat or fish, and lower even than many plant crops such as wheat, soya, and rice (17). Bivalves are a highly affordable food source in nations where they are produced at large scale, such as China (18).…”