Aquaculture: The beneficial properties of plants

by Dr Bernhard Eckel, Vice President of Sales

Good nutrition is a pre-condition for a healthy and productive life for humans (FAO, 2019). Therefore, we see a globally increasing demand for seafood (fish, crustaceans and molluscs) and growing consumer awareness of environmental sustainability and wholesome food.

Combined with the limited natural resources of capture fisheries, aquaculture plays a central role in seafood supply. Aquaculture production has grown rapidly over the years, reaching the point where it accounts for approximately half of the total seafood production.
 

Intensive farming is typically practised to maximise growth rate and minimise production costs. On the other side, intensive production can result in increased levels of stress for the animals, which in turn affects their health and performance.

Important stress factors in fish and crustaceans are, for instance, disease and parasites, high stock densities, low water quality, and sudden changes in water temperature and/or oxygen levels. Aquaculturists need to manage carefully all aspects of aquaculture production that positively affect the welfare of the animals they raise and consider animal welfare as necessary for good growth, health, and a successful business.

It is important to invest some time to look above the waterline. A lot of challenges known from swine or poultry production will also be encountered in the aquaculture production.

Fish respond to stressors through their stress response, similarly to mammals. Following a stressful event, the hormone cortisol is released. The prolonged activation of the stress response has deleterious consequences on their physiology. These include loss of appetite, impaired growth and fitness, immunosuppression and increased mortality.

Stressors such as environmental hypoxia and hyperoxia contribute to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting in oxidative damage, because the fish are unable to detoxify ROS. Furthermore, oxidative stress can have an immunosuppressive effect and make the animals more susceptible to infectious diseases, such as Vibrio spp. or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPND) in shrimp.

Stress triggers inflammatory pathways generally associated with sub-optimal nutrients/energy utilisation and reduced performance. At farm level, this is noticeable as variable growth, decreased feed efficiency and high mortality rates.

Read more HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news