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CHANNEL CATFISH

Welcome to Expert Topic. Each issue will take an in-depth look at a


particular species and how its feed is managed.

40 | January | February 2016 - International Aquafeed

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

International Aquafeed - January | February 2016 | 41

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

42 | January | February 2016 - International Aquafeed

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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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

44 | January | February 2016 - International Aquafeed

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