Feeds for the Aquaculture Sector - Current Situation and Alternative Sources

Aquaculture currently accounts for approximately 50% of fish consumed by humans. The future development of aquaculture will be greatly constrained by the increasing costs of fishmeal and fish oil. To remedy this situation, scientific research and feed manufacturers have made a significant progress by looking for alternative protein sources for use in fish diets in order to develop feeds that provide adequate nutrition for animals’ growth, while reducing to minimum the use of traditional sources of protein. This chapter aims at critically reviewing recent studies, carried out worldwide, about the effects of the inclusion of new protein sources as insect, poultry by-products, meat and bone meals and other protein sources alternative to fishmeal in aquafeeds. In particular, the impacts of these protein sources in terms of growth, nutrient digestibility, fillet quality traits and sensorial perception in the most important farmed marine and freshwater fish species are evaluated.