The Latin names of some aquatic species can have fascinatingly obscure meanings that provide anyone in need of a hobby with hours of joyful investigation and speculation. The channel catfish is, alas, not one of them: Ictalurus punctatus simply means ‘spotty catfish’, and the briefest glance at one will tell you why.
The Latin names of some aquatic species can have fascinatingly obscure meanings that provide anyone in need of a hobby with hours of joyful investigation and speculation. The channel catfish is, alas, not one of them: Ictalurus punctatus simply means ‘spotty catfish’, and the briefest glance at one will tell you why.
The Latin names of some aquatic species can have fascinatingly obscure meanings that provide anyone in need of a hobby with hours of joyful investigation and speculation. The channel catfish is, alas, not one of them: Ictalurus punctatus simply means ‘spotty catfish’, and the briefest glance at one will tell you why.
Welcome to Expert Topic. Each issue will take an in-depth look at a
particular species and how its feed is managed.
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Arkansas, USA
he Latin names of some aquatic
species can have fascinatingly obscure meanings that provide anyone in need of a hobby with hours of joyful investigation and speculation. The channel catfish is, alas, not one of them: Ictalurus punctatus simply means spotty catfish, and the briefest glance at one
will tell you why.
Not everything about this species is so obvious, however. Although the US Fish and Fisheries Commission began collecting this species from its native Mississippi River Valley in the 1870s, it was 1890 before they got it to spawn in captivity, and only then did they realise the eggs were guarded by the male. It would be a further 26 years before farmers discovered the productive gains to be had by providing the fish with a container to use as a nest. And only in 1929 was it understood that the male fish fanned their eggs for a reason, and that perhaps we ought to start doing so too. Commercial aquaculture of this species wasnt really considered economically viable until the end of the 1950s - over 80 years after collection and stocking first began.
China
Channel catfish have been widely introduced throughout the
USA and abroad: mainly Russia, Latin America and China. Indeed, China now even exports a small amount of this fish back to its native country. In the US and China, channel catfish are grown in ponds, tanks and raceways. Cages tend not to be used. The water needs to be warm; in some northern climes this is sometimes achieved using geothermal waters or even the heated waters coming from electric power plants. Feed tends to be plantderived proteins, but vitamin supplements may be added, especially in indoor cultivation systems. Harvesting is done with wide-mesh seine nets so only fish of marketable size are taken. Although currently popular across the US due to its image as a healthy food, the future market for channel catfish is uncertain, owing to competition from imported species. Source: FAO
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CHANNEL CATFISH
An overview of nutritional requirements
by Herbert E. Quintero, PhD, Aquaculture/Fisheries Centre, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, USA
he catfish industry is one of the largest
and best developed aquaculture segments in the United States. Commercial production of channel catfish started developing in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and since then feed formulation for catfish started to be tested (Hastings and Dupree, 1969). The main objective of providing minimal quantities of nutrients has not changed since those earlier studies, but the need for increasing production and optimizing resources has changed. Initially, channel catfish were raised in ponds at low stocking densities and fed low-cost, incomplete diets. That trend changed by introducing nutritional balanced diets that were developed based on the determination of nutrient requirements of this species starting in the early 1970s (Lovell, 1977). US catfish production increased rapidly from the early 1980s until 2003 when it reached 662 million pounds of catfish processed representing more than half of total aquaculture production. However that trend shifted and started declining with 300 million pounds of catfish processed in 2012, which represents approximately 55 percent decrease since 2003 (USDA, 2004, Hanson & Sites, 2013). In recent years, the industry has been striving to develop technological solutions to improve production, including implementing hybridization programs, and intensifying production with the introduction of new technologies such as
the split-pond system and the in-pond raceway system, both of
them variations of the partitioned aquaculture system (Brown & Tucker, 2013; Brown et al. 2014). These technological solutions also require optimizing feed formulations and feeds, as well improved feed management practices to make the catfish industry economical and environmentally sustainable. Li et al. (2012) indicated because feed is a major cost in catfish production, representing more than 50 percent of total variable costs, optimizing feeding rate and frequency would improve feeding efficiency, reduce feed cost, and improve profit. Feed formulation is of paramount importance because aquafeeds are required to provide appropriate nutrient requirements for each stage of fish development (biological, and physiological features), and have strong effects on stress tolerance and health. Feed formulation has to overcome economical challenges derived from the variability in the cost of feed ingredients, needs to adjust to stringent availability of certain ingredients (especially fishmeal and fish oil), and environmental regulations related to effluents disposal (Boyd et al. 2003, Tacon & Metian, 2008). A more recent issue that is also affecting fish feed formulation is related to the quality of the final product from the marketing and the consumer perspective (human health), especially in regards to muscle fatty acid composition. Components in the fish diet include dietary protein and essential amino acids, which are considered the largest and most costly component (Trushenski et al. 2006). Historically, fishmeal has been the main source of protein in compound aquafeeds with
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3274 thousand tonnes used in 2006, representing 68.2 percent
of the total reported fishmeal production of that year (Tacon & Metian, 2008). Hence, fishmeal replacement has been one of the priorities for fish nutrition researchers by using different replacement products such as terrestrial animal by-products meals, by-catch from fishing, fish processing wastes, plant proteins, and more recently
meals from worms, insects, marine invertebrates, algae, and
single-cell proteins (NOAA/USDA, 2011). The use of plant proteins may also represent a challenge from a biological perspective (anti-nutritional effects, nutrient imbalance, palatability, availability), but there are processing techniques, and also incorporation of dietary enzymes that are being used to minimize those potential issues.
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International Aquafeed - January | February 2016 | 43
Protein levels of 52 percent and 40 percent are required for
channel catfish fry and fingerlings weighing 0.02 and 20 g, respectively. When producing fish weighing from 20-200 g 36 percent CP content is recommended. After reaching 200 g and up to 1500 g 32 percent CP is recommended. For fish weighing, higher than 1,500 g 28 percent CP is typically recommended(Robinson et al. 1994; NRC, 2011). While the data available in the literature is somewhat conflicting regarding performance of stocker to food fish size catfish, over 97.0 percent of the commercial operations for catfish production in US use diets with 28 percent and 32 percent crude protein diets (USDA, 2011). Protein requirements for catfish broodstock in order to optimize reproductive performance in terms of spawning and egg production was not influenced by changing protein level of the broodstock diet from 32 percent to 42 percent, but affected egg size (Quintero et al. 2009). A second component in fish diets are lipids and fatty acids, which have an active role in many physiological processes, and also serve as an energy source. Fish oil constitutes a major source for lipids, especially for highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs), and similarly to dietary protein represents a challenge in fish nutrition because of limited availability and high cost. The use of alternative vegetable oils affects the fatty acid profile and may influence consumer acceptabilityand the nutritional benefit of the final product. Dietary lipids are also important in broodstock feeds and can affect fatty acid composition of eggs prior to spawning season and consequently, offspring performance (Quintero et al. 2011). Lipid content in catfish diets ranges usually from 4-6 percent, and there is a requirement of 0.5-0.75 percent (dry-matter basis) for dietary n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, and 1.0-2.0 percent for linolenic acid (18:3n3) (NRC, 2011).
Inclusion of carbohydrates in fish
diets allows sparing the use of lipids and protein as sources of energy, maximizing the use of dietary protein for growth, and reducing feed cost. Catfish are adapted to diets containing as much as 40 percent dietary carbohydrate (Wilson 1991). Additionally, fiber is an indigestible plant material composed of complex carbohydrates (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and petosan), which has been associated with decreased gastric retention time, increased fecal output, and reduced nutrient utilization. The fiber content in catfish diets is recommended to contain less than 7 percent crude fiber (Robinson et al. 2004). Dietary vitamins and minerals are critical for the wellbeing of catfish. Excess or deficiency in one or more of these micronutrients may be detrimental resulting in toxicity, or development of disease problems. Minerals are essential for all life processes, from maintaining stable internal osmotic concentrations, acidbase equilibrium, ossification, electron transfer, enzyme activators among others (NRC, 2011). Vitamins are also required in the diet for normal growth, reproduction and health. In some cases vitamins may be synthesized from other precursors if they are in the diet, for example channel catfish may synthesize choline from methionine if available in the diet, and also there are cases where the intestinal flora may be a source of water-soluble vitamins (NRC, 2011). Finally, there are other ingredients known as functional foods which have been promoted as constituents that increase stress tolerance and disease resistance. Probiotics and prebiotics used in aquafeeds may result in better health condition, improved resistance, improved growth performance, reduced malformations, and improved gastrointestinal morphology and microbiota balance. Inmunostimulants are dietary supplements that are intended to enhance non-specific defense mechanisms to provide resistance to pathogens and reduce antibiotic use in farmed fish, and include among others beta-glucans, chitin, lactoferrin, levamisole and nucleotides derived from bacteria, fungi or yeast (Oliva-Teles, 2012). The ultimate goal is to formulate a balanced diet that meets all the nutrient requirements of the species, which provides optimal growth, resistance to stress and disease problems, reduces excess nutrient wastes, and offers a final product that is a healthy food choice for the final consumer. References available upon request.
About the author
More information: Herbert E. Quintero, PhD, Aquaculture/
Fisheries Centre, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Pine Bluff, AR 71602 Tel: +1 870 575 8121, Email: quinteroh@uapb.edu
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