Aquaculture has been the fastest-growing food production sector and is considered to be so in the future. However, aquaculture feed is heavily dependent on wild-captured forage fish, which is unsustainable and costly.

Among fishmeal alternatives, attention to one-carbon gas protein (C1GP) has reached an unprecedented level recently. C1GP is produced through the fermentation of certain unique microorganisms by utilizing the substrates from one carbon-related industrial exhaust gases, such as methane, methanol, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, which save time, land, water and resources, reduce greenhouse gases and waste materials, and offer sustainable protein sources. These C1GP products, either as fishmeal or soybean meal alternatives, have been successfully used in fish and shrimp diets.

Researchers from the Institute of Feed Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences reviewed the latest progress on microorganisms, protein production technology, nutrition and products using one-carbon gases as substrate, as well as their application in aquatic feed in a recent article in Reviews in Aquaculture.

According to the researchers, C1GP has great potential for aquafeeds with high transformation efficiency, wide adaptation and abundant nutrients.

Check out the review here.