Dr. Alexandros Samartzis, Regional Technical Sales Manager, Evonik (SEA)
Alexandros Samartzis1, Dhanapong Sangsue1,
Cláudia Figueiredo-Silva2 and Girish Channarayapatna1
1Animal Nutrition,
Evonik Industries, Singapore; 2Animal Nutrition, Evonik Industries,
Germany;
Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing industries
in the world. In 2013, total aquaculture production was 97.2 million tonnes
globally that translates to 157.27 billion US$ with an annual percentage rate
of 8.1% per annum. While Asian aquaculture production contributed to 91.78% of
total world production with an impressive growth rate of 6.9% during 2013. In
commercial aquaculture practices, feeds are responsible for the biggest share
of the production cost which can be up to 80% in many cases. Fish meal (FM) is
considered as an excellent source of nutrients (balanced amino acid profiles,
essential fatty acids, and mineral content) and for that reason was the key
ingredient in aquaculture feeds. Due to its high and increasing cost,
nutritionists emphasize on reducing dependence and finding alternative protein
sources to replace FM. Crustaceans attribute for the major share of about 28%
of the total use of FM in aquaculture. During the last years, significant
information were generated regarding the digestibility of nutrients including
amino acids (AA) of practical ingredients. These data, allows the nutritionists
to have better understanding of nutrient digestibility coefficients in order to
formulate diets that meet the requirements of the defined production target
(without being restricted by the limitations that FM imposes). The slow feeding
behaviour of crustaceans such as, whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), is an extra challenge that has to be
addressed. The objective of this review is to present the available data on
amino acid recommendations and digestibility co-efficients for whiteleg shrimp
for an optimal but cost effective diet. The latest numerous up-to-date
experimental studies indicate that FM substitution with alternative protein
sources do not affect the growth, survival and feed conversion ratio of shrimp,
as long as nutrient composition, including amino acid profile, are balanced to
cover the specie’s requirements. The digestibility coefficient of crude protein
and individual AA of many ingredients will be presented in detail. Finally, all
the recent advances in the AA nutrition of shrimp will explained alongside the
solutions to the challenges of the complicated feeding behaviour of
crustaceans.
Dr. Alexandros Samartzis works for Evonik
(SEA) Pte. Ltd. as a Technical Sales Manager for the Southeast Asia region
specialized in Aquaculture and based in Singapore. My academic qualifications
are; PhD in Aquaculture nutrition from Plymouth University in UK as well as an
MRes in applied fish biology and an MBA from the Agricultural University of
Athens, Greece.
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