DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNVERSITY

South La Union Campus

INSTITUTE OF FISHERIES
Santo Tomas, La Union

FiTe 135 – AQUACULTURE

First Semester, SY 2017 – 2018

FISH NUTRITION AND FEEDING

Nutrition
- the sum of the processes by which an animal or plant
takes in and utilizes food substances.
- series of processes by which organisms acquire and
assimilate food for tissue growth and replacing worn and
damaged tissues.
- cost of feed represents > 50% of variable operating costs
 
Major food groups
1. Proteins
2. Fats
3. Carbohydrates
4. Vitamins
5. Minerals
 PROTEINS
Functions of protein
-used to make new proteins (growth function)
-replace existing proteins (maintenance function)
 
*Amino acids- building blocks of protein

Protein requirements vary with:

1. Species
2. Size
3. Protein quality
4. Water temperature
5. Feeding rates
6. Natural food presence
7. Non-protein energy

*protein requirements ~35% for tilapia, 38% for shrimp

Ten essential amino acids (EAA)
-must be supplied through the diet
1. Arginine 6. Methionine
2. Histidine 7. Phenylalanine
3. Isoleucine 8. Tryptophan
4. Leucine 9. Threonine
5. Lysine 10. Valine

Deficiency of EAA lead to:

1. decreased growth
2. mortality
3. body malformation
Ten Non-essential amino acids (NEAA)
– can be synthesized by the organism through the
presence of EAA.

1. Alanine 6. Glutamic acid

2. Asparagine 7. Glutamine
3. Aspartic acid 8. Glycine
4. Cysteine 9. Proline
5. Serine 10. Tyrosine
 CARBOHYDRATES
Function
-texturizing manufactured feeds
-binder in the formulation of pellets.
-used as “fillers” to complete feed formula
 
*Most abundant and relatively least expensive source of
energy.

*Most fish species have limited ability to metabolize

carbohydrates, and have no nutritional demand for them
 FATS AND LIPIDS
Functions
-supply the fish with essential fatty acids that are
necessary structural components of all cell membranes
and some hormones. Lipids are of great importance for
physical processes.
-necessary for absorption of some sterols and vitamins,
relatively cheap energy source

Types of fatty Acid

1. saturated fatty acid – without double bond, and solid
at room temperature.
e.g. lard, beef tallow
2. unsaturated fatty acid – with one or more double
bonds. Liquid at room temperature.
e.g. linolenic acid, linoleic acid, EPA, DHA
 VITAMINS
-complex organic substances that are essential to a wide
variety of metabolic processes.

Micronutrients- needed in small amounts in the diet, but the

requirements may increase substantially during growth
and spawning.

Function
-required for various processes, energy production, cell
repair, blood clotting and calcium utilization.
 
Two classes of vitamins
1. fat-soluble - Vitamins A, D, E, and K
2. water-soluble- Vitamin C and vitamin B complex.
 MINERALS
-for maintenance of osmotic balance between body fluids
and their environment.

Macrominerals
1. calcium 5. chlorine
2. phosphorus 6. potassium
3. sulfur 7. magnesium
4. sodium
  
9 essential trace minerals
1. iron 6. iodine
2. copper 7. molybdenum
3. manganese 8. fluorine
4. cobalt 9. selenium
5. zinc
 FEED ADDITIVES
Pigments
-added to feeds result in an attractive red flesh color as
in salmonids. Feed manufacturers usually include as
additives synthetic analogues of the naturally occurring
pigment asthaxanthin or cathaxanthin
 
Antioxidants, binders, and other feed components
- Fish feeds contain high levels of unsaturated oils that
easily oxidize, resulting in the breakdown of oils and
other nutrients.
1. butylhydroxytoluene (BHT)
2. butylhydroxyanisole (BHA)
3. ethoxyquin
4. tocopherol (vitamin E)
Proximate analysis of feeds:
1. Moisture content
2. Crude protein by Kjeldahl method
Protein = Nitrogen x 6.25
3. Crude Fat - Soxhlet apparatus
4. Crude fiber using acid/alkali digestion
5. Crude ash – furnace at 550oC for 5-6 hours
6. NFE ( nitrogen free extract) = 100- (crude protein +
crude fat+ crude fiber + crude ash)
 FEEDING MANAGEMENT
1. Nutritive content of feeds
2. Particle size of feeds
3. Daily feed ration
4. Feeding frequency
5. Time of feeding
 
ABW =

Growth rate =

Survival rate =

Daily feed allowance = # of fish stocked x SR x ABW x FR

Feed ration/day = # of fish x ABW x FR

Biomass = # of fish stocked x survival rate x ABW

FCR = or

Feed efficiency (%) =

Feeding rate adjustment

 
Categories of feed
1. Wet (50-70% moisture)
2. Moist (35-45% moisture)
3. Dry (< 10% moisture)

Types of feeds
1. Supplemental feeds- designed to add nutrients to
food obtained from the pond or aquarium
environment.
2. Complete feeds- for intensively-reared fishes that do
not get nutrients from the environment.
 
Complete feed formulas are based on the:
1. nutrient requirement of fishes
2. availability of essential components
3. digestibility of ingredients used to prepare them
Classification of feeds based on life stages of fish
1. larval feeds
2. starter feeds
3. grower feeds
4. finisher feeds
5. broodstock feeds
6. maintenance diets

Feed storage and handling

1. Cool
2. Dry
3. Pest free
4. Sample for each consignment
5. Specialty feeds may require special handling
 
Methods of feeding
1. Hand broadcast
2. Mechanized feeders
3. Demand feeders
4. Automatic feeders
5. Mobile feeders
5. Subsurface feeders
Advantages of artificial formulated feeds over trash fish
1. Cheaper compared to trash fish
2. Low moisture content (10%) compared to trash fish (75%)
3. Provide nutritionally complete diet, thus fish grows faster
and are healthier
4. Less pollution because it is more table in water than trash
fish
5. Low FCR
Disadvantages of trash fish
1. Short storage life
2. High variability and seasonality
3. Readily breaks up into smaller pieces and 30-50% are
uneaten or wasted
4. Uneaten food contributes to pollution and degradation
of water quality
5. Expensive as humans also consume fish-by-catch
6. Possible carrier of disease(s)
7. High FCR
Factors affecting feed intake
I. Abiotic
-Light intensity and spectrum
-Temperature
-Waves and other physical factors
-Chemical factors (oxygen, pH, salinity, nitrogenous
compounds)

II. Biotic
-Stocking density
-Social organization
-Predators
-Disturbance (human)
-Feeding rhythms
-tidal/lunar
Feed Formulation
-a process that involves combining various feed
ingredients, which contain different amounts of nutrients,
so that the resulting composition would meet the specific
requirement of the cultured species.
 
Soybean- used as a fishmeal replacer. use of soybean oil
meal within commercial feeds is only between 20-35%
for milkfish and tilapia, and 10-20% for shrimp
 
Copra meal - the maximum level of copra that can be
incorporated into feeds is only about 15-20% due to its
low digestibility, low protein quality, and susceptibility to
mycotoxin contamination.
Feed formulation using Pearson’s square

Jose wanted to combine fish meal (FM) with rice bran

(RB) to make a supplementary feed for milkfish that will
contain 25% protein. FM has 50% protein while RB
contains 8% protein. Calculate the amount of FB and RB
to be used to attain the desired protein.
THANK YOU…