Abstract

High protein content, excellent amino acid profile, absence of anti-nutritional factors (ANFs), high digestibility and good palatability of fishmeal (FM), make it a major source of protein in aquaculture. Naturally derived FM is at risk due to an increase in its demand, unsustainable practices, and price. Thus, there is an urgent need to find affordable and suitable protein sources to replace FM. Plant protein sources are suitable due to their widespread availability and low cost. However, they contained certain ANFs, deficiency of some amino acids, low nutrient bioavailability and poor digestibility due to presence of starch and fiber. These unfavourable characteristics make them less suitable for feed as compared to FM. Thus, these potential challenges and limitations associated with various plant proteins have to be overcome by using different methods, i.e. enzymatic pretreatments, solvent extraction, heat treatments and fermentation, that are discussed briefly in this review. This review assessed the impacts of plant products on growth performance, body composition, flesh quality, changes in metabolic activities and immune response of fishes. To minimize the negative effects and to enhance nutritional value of plant products, beneficial functional additives such as citric acid, phytase and probiotics could be incorporated into the plant-based FM. Interestingly, these additives improve growth of fishes by increasing digestibility and nutrient utilization of plant based feeds. Overall, this review demonstrated that the substitution of fishmeal by plant protein sources is a plausible, technicallyviable and practical option for sustainable aquaculture feed production.

Keywords

Fishmeal substitution; Plant products; Anti-nutritional factors; Physiological impacts; Sustainability

Published in

Heliyon
2024, Volume: 10, number: 4, article number: e26573

SLU Authors

• Yong, Jean W.H

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
SDG11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Fish and Aquacultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26573

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/128478