ISSUE FOCUS 32 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE August 2025 Long-term resilience of the aquaculture industry to climate change can be achieved by adopting best aquaculture practices and certifications that align farms with blue farming strategies. These strategies primarily focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, capturing carbon and enhancing carbon sequestration (Bennett et al., 2023). Others could suggest the implementation of sustainable aquaculture systems such as aquaponics and recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) for the control of environmental conditions in a changing climate. Genetic and selective breeding approaches could also develop heat-tolerant farmed strains (Yadav et al., 2024). While these options may prove viable in the long term, integrating nutritional technologies offers a practical and cost-effective means to meet animals’ nutritional requirements while enhancing resilience against heat stress and further supporting the industry’s ability to adapt to climate challenges (Pailan and Biswas, 2023). Mitigating and adapting to heat stress can be achieved by supplementing readily available nutritional and non-nutritional feed additives for the aquaculture market. Nutritional solutions such as essential amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and nucleotides, along with non-nutritional solutions including bacterial and yeast derivatives, can play a crucial role in reducing stress challenges (Ciji and Akhtar, 2021). Furthermore, stressful environmental conditions, such as temperatures outside a species’ optimal range, trigger the release of cortisol and oxidative stress, which can inhibit feeding (Volkoff and Rønnestad, 2020). Therefore, farmers may need to adjust feeding schedules during heat waves. Under prolonged heat stress, oxidative stress becomes a significant concern in aquaculture, as endogenous antioxidant systems may be overwhelmed. Therefore, external nutritional interventions are essential to restore oxidative balance in aquatic farmed animals (Madeira et al., 2016). Selenium, one of the essential trace minerals, is involved in various metabolic, biological and physiological functions, such as acting as a precursor for antioxidative enzyme synthesis leading to high total antioxidative capacity (Dawood et al., 2021). Heat stress increases oxidative stress, potentially elevating selenium demand. Therefore, optimizing selenium levels in aqua feeds, alongside essential antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, is recommended to enhance stress resistance and overall performance (El‐Sayed and Izquierdo, Photo: Alltech
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjkxNQ==