USE OF NON-CONVENTIONAL FEED FOR BOTH PLANT AND ANIMAL ORIGIN IN

AQUACULTURE
Until recently, the tendency has been for commercial feed manufacturer to make use of fishmeal
as the sole protein source in fish feed. Sustainable supply of fishmeal around the world would
negatively affect the ocean biome. The high cost and availability questions on fishmeal makes it
compulsory to look for alternative to fishmeal that will have nutrient density similar or nearly
similar to fishmeal. These protein alternatives must be able to provide adequate level of essential
amino acids and must be readily acceptable by fish. Consideration must also be given to the cost,
ready availability and digestibility.
The range of potential protein sources can be grouped into three;
a. Agricultural by-products of plant origin
b. Animal products
c. Industrial waste products
Agricultural by-products of plant origin
Potential sources of plant protein include the by-products of oilseed industry, some legumes and
cereal grains, multicellular algae and single celled algae, bacteria and yeast. In general, no one
plant protein can on is own be a complete substitute for fishmeal in fish diets as most are deficient
in at least one essential amino acid or the other. The inclusion of purified amino acids to make up
for the deficient one seems to be a way out. Other alternative is to combine two or more plant
protein such that any amino acids deficiency can be counter balanced
a. OILSEED MEAL
These are veritable alternative to fishmeal in fish diet. Oilseed cake and meal are the residues after
removal of the greater part of the oil from the oilseeds. Most are of tropical origin and are rich in
protein (20-50%). E.g. soybean, cottonseed, groundnut, rapeseed, sunflower, sesame seed, coconut
and palm kernel meal
a. Soybean meal
It is one of the most abundant plant proteins available for fish feed. Soybean meal is a secondary
by-product
Crude Protein Crude Fibre Crude Lipid
Mechanically 44 8.1 7.7
Extracted
Soltvent Extracted 49 5 0.7
Whole 38-40 18
Soybean meal contains all essential amino acids and compare with other plant protein sources.
Its lysine content is high. However, its level of cysteine is sub-optimal, methionine being the
limiting amino acid. It is also very poor source of B-vitamins. Better source of calcium and
phosphorus. Soybean meal, however, contains anti-nutritional factors such as trypsin inhibitors
which blocks the activity of digestive enzymes trypsin. Hemagglutinin is another antinutrient
 that depresses growth. Both santimetabolites can be destroyed either by wet or dry heat
treatment

b. Cottonseed Meal
The protein of cottonseed meal is of good quality but it has a relatively low cysteine, methionine
and lysine.
Crude Protein Crude Fibre Crude Lipid
Solvent Extracted 47.7 12.5 6.6
Mechanically 46.1 15.1 7.1
Extracted
Though crude protein content varies with the type of processing employed, cottonseed meal
contains gossypol which has inhibitory effect on digestive enzymes and contains a biological
anti-oxidants which diminishes appetite and causes constipation in a wide range of animals

c. Groundnut Meal
The protein content of groundnut meal is high; ranging from 49% (9% oil) in mechanically
extracted nuts to about 57% (1-2% oil) in solvent extracted nut. It contains sub-optimal amount
of cysteine and methionine. In addition, it is deficient in calcium and vitamin B12 but it is quite
a good source of niacin. However, groundnut meal is prone to fungi attack which produce toxic
metabolites. The most important toxins found in moldy groundnut is aflatoxins produced by
fungus, Aspergillus flavus which can have toxic effect even at low concentration.

d. Rapeseed Meal
This has high protein content (35-45%) with amino acids similar to soybean. However, it
contains antinutrients called glucosinolates

e. Sunflower Seedmeal
Protein contents of sunflower meal is high and is of good quality. It is a good source of niacin
and contains no known anti-nutritional factors. However, it has high fibre contents

f. Sesame Seedmeal
This has high methionine contents, arginine and leucine contents but it is very low in lysine
contents. It, therefore, has a great potential if mixed with lysine rich feedstuff. However, it has
a very high contents of phytic acid which appears to bind calcium.

g. Copra Meal
When coconut flesh is dried to a moisture content of <6% to prevent deterioration, the resulting
meal is referred to as copra meal. The oilcake contains no known toxic factors but it rapidly
becomes rancid during storage. It has relatively low protein content, high fibre contents (12%).
It also has low histidine and lysine content
h. Palm kernel Meal
This also has low protein contents (20-25%) but it is of high quality. Methionine is the limiting
amino acids. No toxins but high fibre.
b. LEGUMES.
These are plants that bear seeds and have the ability to bind nitrogen from air and convert it to
protein. They are rich in protein and minerals. Legumes include ipil-ipil (Leuceana), alfalfa and
a wide range of peas and beans. The protein of both seed (36%) and leaves (21%) of ipil-ipil is
of high quality, it, however, contains mimosine, an anti-nutrient that inhibits growth. Beans
generally have a good quality protein; their amino acids composition is characterized by high
lysine contents but low in cysteine and methionine. So also, they have little ascorbic acid or
carotene but contains significant amount of thiamine, niacin and riboflavin. They also contain
antinutrients like hemagglutinin and others which are reduced by wet heat treatments

c. ALGAE
Algae has relatively high protein contents (50-60%). It is non-toxic and the dry materials
remains stable after storage for at least six months. The most commonly cultured algae used in
fish feed are unicellular algae such as chlorella, spirulina and scenedesmus. The cost of
production of these algae are however, on the high side. Harvesting unicellular algae is also
economically difficult. Methods of processing algae has also been shown to influence its
digestibility; sundried algae has a lower digestibility than drum dried algae.

d. SINGLE CELL PROTEIN

This refers to the protein produced from micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi and unicellular
algae. Single cell protein has high protein contents (40-80%). The micro-organism has ability
to produce large quantity of protein in a short-time e.g. yeast and bacteria are able to double
their biomass in 20 minutes to 2 hours and unicellular algae in 1 hour to two days. Production
of single cell protein is very expensive even if cheap materials are used. Expensive equipment
has to be obtained to prevent contamination with unwanted pathogenic or toxic micro-
organisms. The cell walls are very rigid and difficult for monogastric animals to digest

e. CEREALS
Cereal grains are essentially energy concentrates and natural supplement to protein rich feeds.
Their protein is most deficient in lysine and is of low or moderate biological value. Cereals
include wheat, maize, barley, oats, millets, sorghum etc.

Animal Protein Sources

Feeds made of animal protein sources usually have good quality essential amino acids in the right
amount as opposed to feed of plant origin that is deficient in one form of amino acid or the other.
Animal protein sources even when used in small amounts can vastly improve the nutritional value
of entire diets. Animal protein sources include fishmeal, fish soluble, shrimp meal, salmon egg
meal, liver meal, products from whale and other marine mammals or domestics animals including
meat meal, bone meal, tankage, blood meal, poultry by products, dairy by-products including milk
powder, whey powder, casein and special processed slaughter house and fish processing waste..
they are, however, expensive to produce with in biological and economical sense. Ideally, they
should only be used in small quantity to make up for deficiencies of certain amino acids and not
as source of protein per se.
Three groups of potentially suitable animal protein sources are;
a. Poultry by-products
b. Invertebrates such as shrimp, worm, snail and fly larvae
c. Silage
Poultry by-products
These are obtained from processing plants. The most important poultry by products are poultry
by-product meal and hydrolyzed poultry feather meal
Invertebrates
i. Shrimp meal: This can be made either from the waste (head and scale) from freezing
plants or whole shrimps in area where the quality of the shrimps is not high enough to make
them used for human consumption. Shrimp meal is used to enhance flesh coloration of
shrimp and trout. However, it contains large amount of poorly indigestible chitin
ii. Worm: Interest in incorporation of earthworm in fish diets is growing partly due to quality
of the protein but also with the efficiency with which waste products can be converted to
worm protein
iii. Snail: These are abundant in many parts of the world and the African giant snail which can
grow to over 30 cm long has attracted special interest as source of protein in fish feed
iv. fly larvae: it has been found that fly larvae (Musca domestica) were nutritionally
equivalent to fishmeal protein. Growing fly larvae in agricultural waste products could
serve as a means of upgrading the food value of these waste produts
Silage
Fish silage refers to a liquid or semi-liquid product from animal materials usually by-products or
offals to which no materials has been added other than acid and in which liquefaction depends on
enzymes already presents in the animal materials which is to be ensiled
The procedures involved grinding or mincing the materials which allows enzymes present in the
materials to spread throughout the materials. After this organic acid or mineral acid is added to
produce favourable condition for the action of these enzymes and also prevent action of bacteria
spoilage or fungal growth. The ensiled product rapidly liquifies and this liquid is relatively stable
and can be stored or dried to produce a meal.
Formic acid has received the most attention in silage production. When organic acid such as formic
acid is added during silage production, it does not require neutralization of the acid prior to feeding
but if mineral acid is used such as hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, then the resulting silage must be
neutralized before feeding. The pH of silage must be maintained a 4-4.6 for the silage to be stable.
This can be achieved by the addition of 3% of 98% formic acid to minced fish or 3.5% of 85%
formic acid. Such a low pH prevents bacteria spoilage and fungi growth and the ensiled products
is relatively stable
Anti-oxidant can be added to silage if the materials used for silage production is high in fat content
to prevent oxidative rancidity. Skimming the ensiled product can also remove the excess lipid.
Industrial/Domestic Waste Products
The possibility of recycling industrial waste presents their used as protein source in fish feed
manufacture. (reduce, recycle and reuse)