The Advanced Research Initiatives for Nutrition & Aquaculture (ARRAINA) project has released the final in a series of three technical booklets on the nutrition and feeding of fish farmed in Europe.

The booklet is specifically aimed at scientists and feed producers, but it also targets other industrial segments (e.g. fish farmers, feed additives companies, retailers) and individuals interested in gaining further knowledge of the physiological consequences of the raw materials that are currently used in the feeds of farmed fish. The species focused on by the ARRAINA project are: Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, common carp, European sea bass and gilthead sea bream.

The objective of this booklet is to provide a reliable set of biomarkers and associated methodologies to assess the nutritionally mediated effects on growth performance, metabolic homeostasis, stress responsiveness and health condition of fish which are fed new diet formulations from early life stages to completion of production cycle and sexual maturation.

Of particular value are predictive and non-invasive biomarkers available at a relatively low cost, with the combination of conventional and omics approaches emerging as a user-friendly option.

The overall objectives of the ARRAINA project are to develop sustainable alternative aquaculture feeds tailored to the nutritional requirements of European farmed fish species, over their respective full life cycles, with reduced levels of fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO), and to
assess the long term physiological consequences by applying targeted predictive tools applicable to multiple species of European farmed fish. 

It is the aim of the project to make the three booklets widely available both to targeted stakeholders and society in general, in order to raise awareness of the science-based knowledge supporting the development of high quality, safe, and environmentally sustainable aquaculture feeds.

Download the ARRAINA technical booklets