Feed and Feeding for Fish and Shellfish: Nutritional Management

A new book relevant for the aquafeed industry has been released, Feed and Feeding for Fish and Shellfish: Nutritional Management.

Edited by Vikas Kumar, written by an international panel of experts and with an applied focus, it serves as a reference book for aquaculture industry professionals seeking information on the nutritional requirements and nutritional pathology of key species, metabolism, physiology and concerns associated with feed manufacturing within the aquaculture feed industry.

It presents foundational knowledge and the most recent advances in aquaculture finfish and crustacean metabolism and nutrient requirements, feed ingredients, nutritional deficiency disorders, and integrated sciences. This book contains fresh approaches to understanding feed, nutrition, metabolism, and overall health in the aquaculture industry.

Book content

The book starts with an introduction from Brett Glencross summarizing some of the key issues underpinning feed management for aquaculture.

Section II discusses nutrient requirements, from macronutrients (proteins,

amino acids, lipids, fatty acids, and carbohydrates), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), and energy requirements of commercial finfish and crustaceans, including prawn, shrimp, crabs, and lobster.

Nutrient and energy requirements of finfish by Aires Oliva-Teles, Paula Enes, Ana Couto, Helena Peres and Vikas Kumar presenting an overall view of the macronutrient requirements of fish, focusing particularly on the most important aquaculture species.
Nutrient and energy requirements for prawn and shrimp by Louis R. D’Abramo and Erchao Li, presenting a compilation of knowledge of the qualitative and quantitative nutrient requirements of prawn and shrimp species.
For the first time, the book covers Nutrients and energy requirements for crabs and lobsters by Erchao Li, Codabaccus M. Basseer, Chris G. Carter, Xugan Wu and Liqiao Chen.

Section III is Feed ingredients and feeding practices, which covers:

Feed ingredients by Ian Forster and Brett Glencross reviewing the considerations that are necessary to understand how ingredients are used in aquafeeds.
Antinutritional factors and adventitious toxins by Trond M. Kortner, Guro Løkka, George Francis, Klaus Becker and Ashild Krogdahl presenting an overview of the most relevant in the context of fish nutrition.
Feed additives by Sungchul C. Bai, Ali Hamidoghli, Simon J. Davies and Alex H.L. Wan
Prebiotic and probiotic applications in fish and crustaceans by Nicola Pontefract, Lucy Sykes, Mark Rawling and Daniel L. Merrifield.
An innovative topic and covering it for the first time in this kind of book is the chapter Applications of in vitro digestive simulations by Francisco J. Moyano and Neda Gilannejad.
Feed manufacturing technology by Hongyuan Cheng and Mette Sørensen.
Feeding practices and practical management strategies by Herbert E. Quintero, Luke A. Roy and D. Allen Davis.

Section IV provides insights into the pathology of nutritional diseases in fish and shrimp and examines how feed impacts water quality and the overall performance of aquatic animals.

The chapter Pathology of nutritional disease was started to be written by Rune Waagbø until he passed away in 2023 and finished by S.C. Remø, Janice A. Ragaza, A.M. Kelly, T.J. Bruce and Vikas Kumar. The authors appreciate his contributions to this book.
Water quality and its impacts on feeding practices, a topic not usually discussed in other nutrition books, by Claude E. Boyd, Robert P. Davis, Aaron A. McNevin and Vikas Kumar

One of the novelties of this book is that it integrates science with nutrition, especially in Section IV:

Nutrition and the immune system in fish and shellfish by Ashild Krogdahl, Trond M. Kortner and Guro Løkka. The new chapter discusses how nutrition and the immune system work together providing a basis for the understanding of the fundamental importance of nutrition for the function of the immune apparatus of an animal with particular emphasis on resistance against pathogens. A special focus on micronutrients required for normal function of the immune system was made.
Larval and broodstock nutrition of finfish by Vikas Kumar, Janice A. Ragaza, Anisa Mitra and Enric Gisbert
Larval and broodstock nutrition of crustaceans by Mansour Torfi Mozanzadeh, Fatemeh Hekmatpour and Enric Gisbert
The importance of gut microbes for nutrition and health by M. Carla Piazzon, Koushik Ghosh, Einar Ringø and Fotini Kokou providing a thorough overview of the development, composition and factors that are affecting gut microbiota.
Omics approaches in fish nutrition research by Samuel A.M. Martin, Dean Porter, Elena Mente, Fabio Casu and Aaron M. Watson, focusing on the three main “omics” technologies that are currently being widely used in fish nutrition studies, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.
Feed to food by Turid Mørkøre addresses the effect of formulated feed on the quality of aquatic animal products.

Second volume

A second book, Nutrition and Physiology of Fish and Shellfish: Feed Regulation, Metabolism, and Digestion, will be published in the coming months. The book presents the most recent advances and fundamental subjects in nutritional biochemistry, physiology of feed intake and feed taste, nutrient and energy metabolism, muscle physiology, digestive organs and their functions in fish and shellfish including shrimp, prawn, crabs, lobsters, bivalves and echinozoa. It will be an excellent source for aquaculture professionals and a comprehensive textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate students, and industry professionals providing the basic and most advanced scientific information on the nutrition and physiology of fish and shellfish.