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phytogenics

Can
address
aquaculture challenges?
by Rui Gonalves, Technical Manager Aquaculture, Biomin

ver the last decade, the aquaculture industry experienced


consistent growth mainly in
developing countries. Global
aquaculture production will clearly continue
to grow mainly due to improvements in production technology and increased demand
for fish and shrimp products. However,
aquaculture faces several important challenges in terms of efficient use of the raw
materials, health management and environmental impact.

Challenges in aquafeeds

Reliance upon scarce and costly raw materials, such as fishmeal, and the optimal use of
alternative ingredients, likely constitute one of
the main concerns in aquaculture. Consumer
awareness about environmental sustainability
also encourages producers to improve the
production performance through sustainable
aquaculture practices. However, the use of
less costly protein sources and low-nutrient
dense diets will most likely lead to lower protein digestibility, higher amino acid imbalance,
higher carbohydrate and fibre content.
This can lead to inefficient nutrient use,
resulting in increased feed usage and consequently higher production costs. In addition,
sub-optimal animal performance leads to
greater susceptibility to disease and higher
ammonia emissions that increase the ecological footprint. Phytogenic feed additives
consisting of herbs, spices, extracts or other
plant-derived compounds have gained
considerable attention as an answer to these
challenges. The active ingredients (e.g. phenols
and flavonoids) can exert multiple effects in
animals, including improvement of feed conversion ratio (FCR), digestibility, growth rate,

reduction of nitrogen excretion and improvement of the gut flora and health status.

Reduced dependence on
fishmeal verses feed efficiency

The replacement of fishmeal by plant


protein, whether for economic or sustainable
reasons, can decrease feed efficiency. Plant
raw materials are less digestible and negatively
impact the gastrointestinal tract. The presence
of undigested nitrogenous compounds in the
intestine favours the formation of ammonia and biogenic amines by the intestinal
microbiota. These toxic compounds cause an
imbalance of the intestinal microbiota, resulting in inflammatory processes and accelerated turnover of the intestinal tissue, leading
to poor performance. Phytogenics stimulate
the digestive secretions, increase villi length

24 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | January-February 2015

and density and increase mucous production


through an increase in the number of globlet
cells. Through different strategies phytogenics
can improve feed digestibility, especially for
proteins and amino acids.

Make money with


sustainable solutions

Beyond the clear positive effects on


improving feed efficiency, nutrient sparing
could be a powerful solution to limit the
nitrogen discharge to the environment.
Phytogenic feed additives can decrease
ammonia emissions through improved protein use, hence decreasing the discharge of
nitrogen. The reduction of nutrient excretion also means less available nutrients in
the water for opportunistic pathogens to
grow. Figure 1 displays a basic example on
Figure 1: Impact of
digestibility improvement on
feed costs and environment.

FEATURE
Figure 2: Phytogenics mode
of action on aquatic species.

how digestibility can improve production.


Phytogenics can be used as a tool to comply
certain sustainability targets, e.g. sustainability
certification, than can offer a premium price
and allow exports to command higher value
markets.

Meanwhile, get rid of AGPs

Low levels of antibiotics in animal feeds,


known as antibiotic growth promoters
(AGPs), results in antibiotic resistance and
the emergence of so-called superbugs. In
recent years antibiotic growth promoters
have been banned from aquaculture produc-

tion in nearly all countries. Farmers who still


use AGPs have limited or no access to high
value markets. Phytogenics can act as natural
growth promoters improving palatability of
diets, stimulating appetite, increasing feed
consumption and growth performance. It also
induces the transcription rate (increasing the
RNA) that leads to an increase in total amino
acid available and therefore enhancing the
production of proteins in the cells.

Making sustainability profitable

With the current record-high raw feed


prices, the pressure to optimise the use

of alternative ingredients, and consumer


awareness about sustainability, it is imperative to improve the digestibility of commercial diets, to optimise feed utilisation
and to reduce nitrogen discharges. Recent
research confirms that phytogenic feed
additives can improve feed digestibility,
especially of proteins and amino acids, thus
reducing feed costs and nitrogen output.
Therefore, phytogenic feed additives are
considered a valuable tool to secure better
feed efficiency and maintain a profitable
aquaculture business following sustainable
guiding principles.

Better digestion for better feed efficiency


Add the power of Phytogenics
to your diet:
A unique blend of herbs, essential
oils and functional flavors
Proven in science and practice
Tailored to the animals needs

digestarom.biomin.net
Naturally ahead

January-February 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 25

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