PRECISION AA NUTRITION IS KEY FOR ECONOMIC AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF HEALTHY FISH AND SHRIMP

With the world's growing population, there is a rising demand for high-quality meat, fish and shrimp. Animal feeds play a leading role in the economic production of animal proteins throughout the world. Sustainability of this industry is very much dependent on its capacity to deliver more innovative, effective and sustainable nutritional solutions that best support the performance of animals. With feed costs accounting for up to 80% of the total variable costs of animal production, precision nutrition is becoming increasingly important to stay competitive. Formulation of feeds that accurately match production targets must put knowledge into practice: knowledge of raw material composition, digestibility and animal requirements are needed for a healthy growth. Besides affecting negatively animal growth, raw material that are poorly digested result in high N and P load into the environment. More recently, precision nutrition programs using NIR technology have allowed the nutritional value of feed and ingredients to be determined in a rapid and simple manner and thus help minimize economic losses and improve profitability. Remarkable examples of putting science and technology at the service of the animal meat industry come from the poultry and salmonid industry. During the 1980s and 90s, advances in poultry nutrition included computerised least-cost feed formulation, the development of the ideal protein concept and formulation for digestible nutrients, and an efficient absorption and utilisation of nutrients and energy. Moving from a formulation based on dietary crude protein (CP) to a formulation based on essential amino acids (EAA) was one of the major breakthroughs in formulating animal feeds, allowing nutritionists to meet animal amino acid (AA) requirements while minimizing N release into the environment. As a result, in 1957 a 42-day-old broiler weighed 540 g with a feed conversion (FCR) of 2.6 while today, a broiler of the same age weighs 2.8 kg with an FCR under 1.70. The use of more highly digestible nutrient-density extruded feeds allows farmers to achieve a FCR of 1.1-1.2 for Atlantic salmon grown to market size today. Moreover, the salmonid industry has made considerable progress in reducing the inclusion of marine ingredients from close to 90% in 1990s to less than 20% in 2016. Accurate information about nutrient requirements of salmonids grown under practical conditions have greatly contributed for these achievements. Carp, tilapia and shrimp industries are equally progressing by putting into practice the scientific knowledge generated in the areas of fish nutrition, feed processing technologies, feed development and feed management practices.