Nutritional requirements of fish

Abstract

The impetus for accurate information on the nutrient requirements of fish derives very largely from the development, in many parts of the world, of an aquaculture industry that is dependent on artificial feeds. At the same time such information can provide the basis for comparative nutrition, whereby features of the nutrition of cold-blooded, water-breathing and mainly, carnivorous vertebrates which differ from the pattern largely common to omnivorous mammals are identified. Since this topic was last addressed (Cowey, 1988) the aquaculture industry has continued to grow, fuelled both by the continuing overexploitation of the marine environment, resulting in declining yields, and by the high quality of aquaculture products.The first serious studies on nutritional requirements of fish were made in the 1950s. Since then much has been learned concerning fish husbandry, water quality, pellet quality (water stability) of fish diets and so on. Consequently, general methodological standards in nutritional experiments have improved greatly and some of the early values for nutrient requirements need to be revised, usually downward.

Growth Response of Cyprinus Carpio Fingerlings Fed Diets Containing Hydrothermally Processed Citrullus Lanatus Seed Meal

“…Crude fibre in each of the diets exceeded the recommended level of 4% as suggested by Cowey (2007) in the present study. According to Gatlin (2010) the quantity of crude fibre in fish diet is usually less than 7% of the fish diet to limit the amount of undigested materials entering the culture medium.…”

Dietary lysine requirement of juvenile swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus

“…The EAA requirements were expressed as a proportion of dietary crude protein (CP) (Cowey and Cho, 1993;Mambrini and Guillaume, 1999). In the present study, the highest WG and SGR were observed in crab fed the diet containing 2.41% lysine level (4.87% of the dietary protein); two slope broken-line regression analysis between SGR and dietary lysine levels indicated that the optimal dietary lysine requirement of juvenile swimming crab was 2.41% of the dry matter (4.87% of dietary protein).…”

Towards Fish Lipid Nutrigenomics: Current State and Prospects for Fin-Fish Aquaculture

“…However, although protein sparing by dietary lipid is widely accepted, the limits to its effectiveness, or the mechanisms by which it might occur, have not been accurately defined for any fish (see Company et al 1999). Consequently, dietary formulations have maximised lipid content in order to satisfy commercial pressure to increase growth rates and reduce production times, despite the fact that there is a strong relationship between dietary lipid levels and undesirable levels of lipid in the carcass of fish (Cowey and Cho, 1993).…”