“For an enormous populous country like India, where people focus on species and system diversification, added nutrient requirements are species-specific; hence nutrient requirement studies on new species of commercial importance and more study on micro-nutrients like vitamin and mineral can lead to successful species-specific feed formulation. Still, there is a huge gap existing in novel feed ingredients and processing technology advancement research.”
Research Scholar, M.F.Sc
ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai
INTRODUCTION
Feed additives are generally substances added in feed in smaller quantities (0.1-2%) to improve the quality of the feed. The single nutrient will not be able to provide all the adequate nutrients to the shrimp. Hence the mixture of ingredients is used in shrimp feed formulation. Additives offer benefits to the quality of feed and improve the feed intake, stability, and better shrimp growth. The type of additives and the dosage varies concerning the type of species for which the feed has been formulated because of the unique nutritional profile and feeding behaviour of aquatic animal.
GLOBAL SCENARIO
The most significant lion share towards aquaculture sector comes from the Asian region, which means fed aquaculture requires a tremendous amount of feed for culture; it’s evident that additives also have the upper hand in the Asia-pacific region; followed by the north-American region, Europe etc. particularly East-Asia holds 32.1% of the global aquafeed market.
The additives market for shrimp holds a value of about USD 66.3 million during the year 2018, whereas there are specific estimates which state that by 2024, the market may reach around USD 103.52 million. As per the Transparency Market Research report, the global aquafeed additives market may reach up to USD 2.2 billion by 2029.
Generally, the additives market is fragmented into different segments, including probiotics, antioxidants, cholesterol and sterol component, organic acids, preservatives, binders, colourants etc, whereas the amino acids market holds a massive share (34.1%) in terms of value of the market.
The reason behind the value of amino acids is since most of the research is focussed on replacing conventional sources with un-conventional ones, added these novel sources are lacking certain essential amino acids plus most of the amino acids are sensitive to heat destruction during processing and several other anti-nutritional factors which again lead to complex formation with proteins and make them unavailable to the animal to consume. So exogenous supplementation is advised in such cases, but these are expensive to use on a large scale.
Plant-based derivates have a significant share of about 95.4% of the market chain when concerned about the sources whereas the micro-organism contributes the remaining portion.
International players include BioMar, Alltech, Cargill, Skretting, Aller Aqua, Coppens International etc.
INDIAN SCENARIO AT A GLANCE
In the case of India, it holds the second position in global aquaculture production next to China, whereas the annual shrimp production of India during the year 2020 was 650,000 metric tons (MT) (as per SAP information). In contrast, the ample amount is driven towards export, i.e. 590,275 MT, which is worth the value of USD 4.42 billion. As per the government report (MPEDA), the major export destination is the USA, followed by China. India is the major exporter of shrimp globally, primarily in frozen form. Andhra Pradesh is the hub for shrimp production with 70% of the country’s share; hence most of the feed companies are located in that region, followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Gujarat etc. Without nutritious feed, there is no aquaculture. The Indian aqua feed production is almost around 2.5 million MT with the Indian shrimp feed market is being the dominant one worth USD 1.05 billion in 2020 (Imarc report). There are at least 33 aqua feed companies in India as per the 2020 report; hence, there is much potential to increase the national aqua feed production.
We all know that fed aquaculture holds a massive share globally, with only 30.5% goes to unfed aquaculture. In contrast, in a country like India, which is called the land of barbs, 87% of freshwater production is from India major carps, which include Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, where most of the farmers are marginal ones; hence, they rely primarily on farm-made feeds and unfed aquaculture systems whereas the fed aquaculture is majorly dominated by vannamei farming.
NATIONAL AQUA FEED PRODUCTION PROBLEMS
AND OUTCOMES
For an enormously populous country like India, where people focus on species and system diversification, added nutrient requirements are species-specific; hence nutrient requirement studies on new species of commercial importance and more study on micro-nutrients like vitamin and mineral can lead to successful species-specific feed formulation. Still, there is a huge gap existing in novel feed ingredients and processing technology advancement research. Farmers are reluctant to go for a feed containing fewer marine ingredients, especially fish meal; hence, farm feeding trails can be undertaken through effective institutional-industry collaborations to support sustainable farming. In human medical science, there are much research on post-biotics and para-probiotics. The aqua feed additives manufacturers should focus on such areas to eliminate the number of viable cells problems faced during probiotic application.
FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
Nowadays, functional feed ingredients and additives are gaining more attention because of their health priorities to the animal.
The perfect example of this is the inclusion of nucleotides in the animal’s diet because it offers disease resistance, a role in cellular replication and stress tolerance. It is true that with new challenges approaching the aquaculture industry every day, there is always room for improvement.
Likewise, rigorous research in mycotoxin binders, post-biotics, para-probiotics etc., the future is going to be intriguing and more explorations can be done concerning the feed additives.
Some additives include synthetic carotenoids extracted from petroleum sources, which leads to residue problems; hence we can extend our expertise to extract carotenoids from other sources such as microalgae Haematococcus Pluvialis cells. Likewise, we can work more to extract beneficial compounds from natural sources to avoid sustainable issues in the longer run.
CONCLUSION
Again, the pandemic has accelerated the consumption of seafood worldwide which confers hope to the aquaculture industry. Nutrition is the complex meticulous branch of science where if all the Indian population research aquaculture nutrition, it will not be enough. Hence, it is evident that a fascinating future is waiting for the feed industry individuals to understand the animals cultured better: subtle changes, a remarkable difference.
References:
1) https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/india-aquaculture-feed-market.
2) http://mpeda.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/EXPORT-PERFORMANCE-2020-21-ENGLISH.pdf
3) https://www.imarcgroup.com/indian-shrimp-feed-market
4) https://www.aquaculturealliance.org/advocate/how-india-became-the-worlds-top-shrimp-producer
5) https://www.aquaprofessional.org/events/IndiaFarmedShrimpProduction2020ReviewSummary.pdf
6) https://shrimpinsights.com/blog/indian-exports-and-production-2020-severely-hit-outlook-still-bullish
7) https://www.skretting.com/en-in/this-is-skretting/about-us
8) https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-fish-shrimp-feed-additives-market-industry
9) https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/4663702/fish-fish-feed-fish-feed-additives-shrimp
10) https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/india-shrimp-feed-market
About Atshaya Sundar
Atshaya Sundar is currently pursuing master’s degree in fish nutrition and feed technology at ICAR – Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai. She has delivered several talks during prestigious national and international conferences and symposiums. Sundar believes that “Sharing knowledge is the most significant contribution to the scientific community”. Hence, she published several popular articles and full-length articles in conference proceedings.
