F: Aquaculture 2010 recent advances in the nutrition of fin fish and crustacean species. A dedicated session chaired by Diane Bellis, Delber t Gatlin, Michael Rust, Jeffrey Silverstein and Frederick Barrows concerned alternative feedstuffs for aquaculture. The quest for replacing fish meal or at least reducing our burden on meal and oil from oceanic sources seems eternal but major steps have been taken. Although it may seem that such plant by- products as soya bean meal and oil seed rape meal and various protein concentrates derived from corn, rapeseed etc have been fully studied, there is much more information to be gained from continuing processing developments. Improved nutritional quality has resulted for fish such as trout and salmon with refinements such as enzyme treatments and enhanced milling technology to remove non-starch polysaccharides and anti- nutritional factors. Similarly, there was much discussion regarding the use of oils and lipid sources in general in aquafeeds in a session under the chair of Jesse Trushenski, Rebecca Lochman, Ron Hardy and Giovanni Turchini. Most of the presentations examined the role of lipids in relation to the physiological as well as metabolic requirements of fish with new insights into the use of novel sources from algae and macro-algae (seaweeds) for a variety of species. Speakers reported effects on carcass composition, fillet quality, as well as on growth, health and immune function. Advances in the use of alternative terrestrial plant oils were also featured. However, another area of interest seemed to be the relevance of feed additives which warranted a separate session. This was chaired by Delbert Gatlin and Ann Gannam and it was pleasing to be directly involved with presentations from myself, my PhD student Carly Daniels and work presented by John Sweetman involving Plymouth. There was a review on functional dietary components such as MOS, FOS and various algal, microbial and yeast extracts as well as probiotic applications. Rebecca Lochman from the University of Arkansas gave an interesting review on various dairy yeast prebiotic agents on golden shiners, goldfish and channel catfish culture with a very southern USA theme. John Sweetman spoke on mannan oligosaccharides (Bio-Mos) and their benefits from a commercial standpoint with sound scientific evidence for their positive effects on gastrointestinal function, growth and health potential in experiments conducted across Europe form several universities and institutions. This
work addressed trout, salmon and sea bass. Carly Daniels (UK) gave a splendid first talk at such a large venue on her work with the European lobster examining the use of prebiotic and probiotics in larval diets for different stages of development and survivability. Carly is based at the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, Cornwall which is devoted to the release of juvenile lobsters for a conservation and stock enhancement scheme. Professor Simon Davies p r e s e n t ed an overview on the complexities of the ver tebrate gut and how the fish intestine is as complicated as higher animals with distinct involvements in immunology, endocrine function as well as nutrient absorption. The effects of various feed additives as modulator s of gut immune function, microbiology and gut integrity were stated and the role of commercial MOS repor ted for a range of fish species.
May-June 2010 | International AquaFeed | 15
Live foods and their use in aquaculture has always been a key aspect of the hatchery phase of fish and shrimp production. The conference sessions addressed this area with examples of improvements in husbandry, nutritional quality of artemia and new There is resurgence in interest in algae at present and this relates as much to algal based bio-fuel applications as well as fish