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Microalgae as a nutritional and bioactive source for aquafeed Margarida Costa, Margarida EustĂĄquio, Daniel Silva, Rita Mateus, Joana Laranjeira, Allmicroalgae - Natural Products, S.A.
Figure 1. Tubular photoautotrophic bioreactors cultivating Nannochloropsis oceanica and Phaeodactylum tricornutum at Allmicroalgae´s facilities.
For effective aquaculture, a good quality fish seed is essential, however, seed production is typically intensive and health management of both, brood and seed fish, can be critical (Little et al., 2002). If a hatchery seed is not of good quality, it may compromise cultivation, slow growth rate and induce poor survivability or disease resistance (Shah et al., 2018). One of the main challenges to achieving this high-quality fish seed is the quality of feeding, the adequate supply of nutrients, both in terms of quantity and quality (Carter, 2015).
Hatchery Feed & Management Vol 8 Issue 3 2020
The traditional fishmeal is industrially produced from fish, such as sprat and sand eel, which are nonappreciated for human consumption. Due to the increasing production of fish feed for the growing aquaculture industry, the use of fishmeal in aquafeed is becoming both environmentally and economically unsustainable. Commercially produced microalgae could become a sustainable alternative fish feed ingredient, once they are sustainably cultivated and contain the necessary nutrients in the required quantities.