ISSUE FOCUS 22 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE September 2022 “Recently, increasing evidence suggests seaweeds are more valuable as functional food or feed additives, with several bioactive properties that can be exploited to improve productivity in aquaculture. Numerous published reports and decades of successful use have highlighted the potential of seaweeds as rich sources of bioactive compounds with potential applications in animal nutrition. This brief review is focused on the benefits of macroalgal polysaccharides in aquaculture diets.” Despite improvements in recent years, acquaculture remains dependent on marine ingredients such as fishmeal and fish oil. A recent review estimated that the share of global fishmeal and fish oil used by the aquaculture sector versus livestock and non-food uses was 69% and 75%, respectively (Naylor et al., 2021). To improve sustainability, the aquaculture industry has increased the use of terrestrial plant-based ingredients. However, the use of plant-based ingredients such as grains and oilseeds present challenges in fish. In particular, carnivorous fish have difficulty digesting starch and other carbohydrates, including fibre, in these ingredients. Fish are also sensitive to antinutrients and toxins in plant-based ingredients. Replacing fishmeal and fish oil in aquatic feeds with terrestrial plant-sourced ingredients can impact the health of piscivorous species by altering the gastrointestinal microbiome, changing gut morphology and modifying immune function (Naylor et al., 2021). Marine macroalgae or seaweeds consist of three diverse Phyla, the Phaeophyta (brown) Chlorophyta (green) and Rodophyta (red) seaweeds. Globally, appreciation for the potential of seaweeds to offer improved nutrition and ecosystem services is increasing (Naylor et al., 2021). In recent decades, research focused on the potential of seaweeds as substitutes for terrestrial plant and animal protein and energy has not yielded much success. However more recently, increasing evidence suggests seaweeds are more valuable as functional food or feed additives, with several bioactive properties that can be exploited to improve productivity in aquaculture. Numerous published reports and decades of successful use have highlighted the potential of seaweeds as rich sources of bioactive compounds with potential applications in animal nutrition (Jesus Raposo et al., 2016). This brief review is focused on the benefits of seaweed polysaccharides in aquaculture diets. The non-nutritive effects of some seaweed polysaccharides (fibre) can be attributed to their colloidal properties. Some fibres can act as emulsifiers BENEFITS OF SEAWEED PREBIOTIC POLYSACCHARIDES (FIBRE) IN AQUACULTURE DIETS Dr Jason Sands Head of Nutrition Ocean Harvest Technology
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