COVER
GCP/RLA/075/ITA
Field Document 5/E

THE NUTRITION AND FEEDING OF FARMED FISH AND SHRIMP - A TRAINING MANUAL
2. NUTRIENT SOURCES AND COMPOSITION

CONTENTS



G O V E R N M E N T   C O O P E R A T I V E   P R O G R A M M E

THE NUTRITION AND FEEDING OF FARMED FISH AND SHRIMP - A TRAINING MANUAL

2. NUTRIENT SOURCES AND COMPOSITION

By

Albert G.J. Tacon

A report prepared for the FAO Trust Fund GCP/RLA/075/ITA Project Support to the Regional Aquaculture Activities for Latin America and the Caribbean

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Brasilia, Brazil
September 1987

This report was prepared during the course of the project identified on the title page. The conclusions and recommendations given in the report are those considered appropriate at the time of its preparation. They may be modified in the light of further knowledge gained at subsequent stages of the project.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers.

PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT

This document is based on the original lecture texts presented by Dr. A.G.J. Tacon to the trainees of the Fourth Senior Aquaculturists Training Course in Pirassununga, Brazil, from 23 June to 9 July 1986 (based at the Centro de Pesquisa e Treinamento em Aquicultura, CEPTA), and has been revised and updated as a training manual to form the basis of an intensive five week subregional training course on the nutrition and feeding of farmed fish and shrimp to be implemented by the FAO Trust Fund GCP/RLA/075/ITA Project within the Latin America and Caribbean Region. The aim of this training course is to create a core of senior instructors and researchers within the Region who inturn will be able to conduct their own national aquaculture nutrition and feeding training programmes, and advise farmers and researchers alike on all aspects of practical feed technology.

Although numerous training manuals exist on the nutrition and feeding of farmed fish and shrimp, these have tended to deal almost exclusively with intensive or complete diet feeding, with little or no mention of semi-intensive feeding methods. Since the majority of finfish and shrimp aquaculture production is currently realised within semi-intensive farming systems, clearly emphasis must also be given to semi-intensive feeding methods such as fertilization, composting, and supplementary diet feeding. All too often it is believed that the only economic way of feeding fish or shrimp is by using a high quality ‘complete’ pelleted diet; it is not, and farmers and researchers alike should not be misguided to believe so. Furthermore, the present manual critically assesses the known nutrient requirements of the major cultured aquaculture species, the methodology used by researchers for the measurement of dietary nutrient requirements and for conducting feeding trials, reviews the semi-intensive and intensive feeding strategies employed in other parts of the world, and attempts to open avenues for the development of an applied aquaculture nutrition and feeding research strategy to suit the needs and desires of the Latin America and Caribbean Region. The training manual is presented in four parts; part 1 deals with the essential nutrients, part 2 deals with nutrient sources, part 3 deals with intensive feeding methods, and part 4 deals with semi-intensive feeding methods.

ABSTRACT
The principles of feed and fertilizer analysis are described, and the chemical composition of various potential feed ingredients and fertilizers presented; including the cereal grains and by-products, oil-bearing seeds and by-products, grain legumes, green fodder crops, roots and tubers, fruits, aquatic macrophytes, miscellaneous plant feedstuffs, single-cell proteins, animal by-products, invertebrates, chemical fertilizers, and organic manures. Information is also presented on the major dietary feed additives, including feed antioxidants, binders, pigments, and dietary feeding stimulants. In addition, a glossary of nutrition feed milling terms and feed ingredient definitions is presented.

CONTENTS

1. PRINCIPLES OF FEED AND FERTILIZER ANALYSIS
1.1 Feed analysis
1.1.1 Protein and non-protein nitrogen composition
1.1.2 Lipid and fatty acid composition
1.1.3 Crude fibre and digestible carbohydrate content
1.1.4 Ash and mineral composition
1.1.5 Vitamin composition
1.1.6 Variability in chemical composition
1.1.7 Physical characteristics
1.1.8 Endogenous anti-nutritional factors
1.1.9 Adventitious toxic factors
1.1.10 Microbial contamination
1.1.11 Certificate of analysis of feeding stuffs
1.2 Fertilizer analysis
1.2.1 Primary nutrients
1.2.2 Secondary and micro-nutrients
1.2.3 Variability in chemical composition
1.2.4 Contaminants
1.2.5 Certificate of analysis of fertilizers

2. GLOSSARY OF NUTRITION/FEED MILLING TERMS AND INGREDIENT DEFINITIONS
2.1 Glossary - Miscellaneous feed and nutrition terms
2.2 Glossary - Part (s) of parent feed material
2.3 Glossary - Process (es) and treatment (s) to which the product has been subjected before feeding to the animal
2.4 Feed ingredient definitions

3. NUTRIENT SOURCES - COMPOSITION OF FEEDSTUFFS AND FERTILIZERS
3.1 Cereal grains and by-products
3.2 Oilseeds and by-products
3.3 Grain legumes
3.4 Root crops
3.5 Fruits
3.6 Grass, green crops, and miscellaneous plant feedstuffs
3.7 Vascular aquatic plants
3.8 Single cell proteins
3.9 Invertebrate food organisms
3.10 Vertebrate animal by-products
3.11 Mineral supplements
3.12 Chemical fertilizers
3.13 Organic manures

4. FEED ADDITIVES
4.1 Preservatives
4.2 Binders
4.3 Feeding stimulants
4.4 Food colourants

5. REFERENCES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 
1Protein conversion factors used in converting nitrogen to protein levels within different foodstuffs
2Endogenous anti-nutritional factors present in plant foodstuffs
3MAFF (1973) official certificate of analysis - feeding stuffs
4MAFF (1973) official certificate of analysis - fertilizers
5Average proximate composition of the major cereal grains and their by-products
6Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of the major cereal grains and their by-products
7Major fatty acids of oilseeds
8Average proximate composition of the major oilseeds and their by-products
9Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of the major oilseeds and their by-products
10Average fatty acid composition of the major oilseeds and plant by-product oils
11Average proximate composition of the major grain legumes and their by-products
12Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of the major grain legumes
13Average proximate composition of the major root crops and their by-products
14Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of the major root crops and their by-products
15Average proximate composition of the major edible fruits and their by-products
16Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of the major fruit by-products
17Average proximate composition of grass, green fodder crops and some miscellaneous plant feedstuffs
18Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of the major grass and green fodder crops and some selected miscellaneous plant feedstuffs
19Average proximate composition of the major aquatic macrophytes used for aquaculture feeding
20Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of some aquatic macrophytes
21Average proximate composition of the single cell proteins
22Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of single cell proteins
23Average proximate composition of selected invertebrate food organisms
24Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of selected invertebrate foods
25Average proximate composition of selected animal by-products
26Average essential amino acid (EAA) composition of selected animal by-products
27Average major fatty acid composition of selected animal fats and oils
28Elemental composition of salts in mineral mixtures
29Elemental composition of the major chemical fertilizers used within aquaculture systems
30Average elemental composition of organic manures
31Commonly used feed antioxidants and anti-microbial preservatives
32MAFF (1973) permitted food colourants
33Carotenoid content of different animal and plant products

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 
1Weende proximate analysis scheme
2Classification of endogenous toxic factors occuring in plant foodstuffs of agricultural importance
3The cereal grain
4Effect of various dietary supplements on the satiation food intake of rainbow trout fed a soybean meal based trout ration
5Effect of staining Artemia salina nauplii with different coloured food dyes on the feeding efficiency of larval sole in glass tanks
6Structure of some important carotenoids