The Effects Of Feed Conversion Ratio Of Aqua Feed On Fish And Sustainable Aquaculture
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
An understanding of the principles of operation of capture and culture fisheries help to throw light on the definition of aquaculture. The expressions capture and culture fisheries are self-explanatory.in the former, one reaps the aquatic harvest without having to sow, whereas, in the latter, one has to sow the seed, nurse it, tend it, rear it and harvest it when it grows to marketable size (Mogaji and Ibiyo, 2016).Culture fisheries are usually carried out in small water bodies which can be manipulated, prepared for stocking; which are often manured and/or fertilized before, during and after-stocking; and /or where fish are fed from extraneous sources (Ibiyo et al, 2018). Pen culture, cage culture needs no detailed knowledge of the population dynamics of the cultivated fin-fish or shell fish. Here one has to breed, if one technically can, the chosen fish under controlled conditions, if it does not breed naturally, and develop fish husbandry practices so as to be able to formulate economically viable technologies (Okomoda et al, 2017).For effective aquaculture, one has to gain familiarity and control water quality to enhance its biological productivity, one has to understand fish nutrition so as to be able to formulate nutritionally balanced fish diet, one has to prevent incidence of fish infections and diseases through prophylactics therapeutics (Udo and Umoren, 2011). With this background information, a definition of aquaculture can be attempted, aquaculture has been defined by the Japanese resource council, science and technology agency as : “aquaculture is an industrial process of raising aquatic organisms up to final commercial production within properly partitioned aquatic areas, controlling the environmental factors and administering the life history of the organism positively and it has to be considered as an independent industry from the fisheries hitherto”. (Agboola et al, 2019). Aquaculture is organized production of a crop in the aquatic medium, the crop may be that of an animal or plant .Naturally, the organism cultured has to be ordained by nature as aquatic. During the last decade or so there has been noticeable a global upsurge for aquaculture. Some of the factors which have contributed to the upsurge are: (a) increased and continuously rising cost of fishing operations due to steep rise of the price of the price of fuel. (B) fear of reduction in marine fish landings by countries that depend on fishing in the territorial waters of other countries as a result of the new laws of the sea of 200 miles exclusive economic zone. (c) Need in some countries for finding alternative and/or additional employment for large numbers of surplus fishermen or under-employed farmers. (d) A persistent demand in most developed countries for high cost species like shrimps and prawn, this has greatly promoted interest in aquaculture in countries that wish to increase their foreign exchange earnings (Mogaji and Ibiyo, 2016). Factors which have been unfavorable to the development of aquaculture are: (a) shortage of fertilizers in most developing countries and their allocation to agriculture. In this respect, there is a measure of conflict between agriculture and aquaculture. (b) increasing prices and even the availability of fish meal, which is the ingredient of most fish feed, this has led to search for cheaper protein substitutes in fish feeds. (c) aquaculture is considered by some as a polluting agent, through release of water containing fish metabolites leading to eutrophication in the recipient waters, which may be a stream or a river or another kind of natural water body. (d) absence of a constitutional provision for aquaculture as a discreet national activity and legal frame work for governing its development and administration in most of the countries of the world are standing in the way of entrepreneurs making investment in aquaculture(Ovie and Eze, 2013).
Aquaculture practice in Nigeria involves both the intensive and semi-intensive systems of production. Either of the systems involves input of supplementary and complete feed. (Udo and Umoren, 2011).
Aquaculture feeds are well-compounded mixture of feed stuffs in mash form or pellets that could be fed to fish. Marsh feeds are good for fry and pellets for fingerlings, juveniles and adults depending on the size. (Agboola et al, 2019). For any aquaculture venture to be viable and profitable, it must have a regular and adequate supply of balanced aqua-feed for the cultured fin-fishes (Okomoda et al, 2014). This is so because the dissolved nutrients that promote primary and secondary production in the natural environment are seasonal and might be insufficient or may not occur in required proportion to meet the nutritional demand for cultured fishes (Ahmad and Ibrahim, 2016) .Aqua-feed satisfy this need and ensure that the fishes get the appropriate spectrum of its basic food requirement for maximum growth.
Materials that are cheap and available in large quantities are favored for fish feed ,such materials include agricultural/industrial wastes for example ,palm kernel cake ,groundnut cake, millet/corn bran, wheat bran, blood meal, fish meal, soya bean meal (Joshua et al, 2019).
The Feed conversion ratio is simply the amount of feed it takes to grow a kilogram of fish (Agboola et al, 2019). For example, if it requires two kilograms of feed to grow one kilogram of fish, the FCR would be two.
This means that when a feed has a low FCR, it takes less feed to produce one kilogram of fish then it would if the FCR were higher (Ibiyo and Olowosegun, 2005). A low FCR is a good indication of a high quality feed. FCR is a valuable and powerful tool for the fish farmer. It allows for an estimate of the feed that will be required in the growing cycle. Knowing how much feed will be needed then allows a farmer to determine the profitability of an aquaculture enterprise (Agboola et al, 2019). This means that FCR allows the farmer to make wise choices in selecting and using feed to maximize profitability. As the amount of protein in the diet increases, the FCR gets smaller (Ibiyo and Olowosegun, 2005). This means that it takes less feed to produce a kilogram of fish. This can be important, because while feed with higher levels of protein might be more expensive per kilogram, because it is possible to use less feed, it may actually be the cheapest way to feed fish.
As the aquaculture industry is expanding, the sector is also facing some problems like environmental degradation, water scarcity, limited availability of land for aquaculture, high input costs (Adewolu et al 2010). So, sustainability in the aquaculture sector is the need of the hours. Although living resources are self-renewable, the focus needs to be on sustainability before resource utilization (Adewolu et al, 2010). Sustainable development focuses on the management and conservation of natural resources and the orientation of technological and institutional changes in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations (Zafar and Khan, 2020).
1.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this work is to review the information and knowledge required for understanding the effect of feed conversion ratio of aquafeed on growth and survival, yield and profitability of aquaculture productions.
The objectives of the review are to:
- Identify the different types of aquafeed.
- Understand the effect of aquafeed on feed conversion ratio of fish.
- Understand the role that aquafeed plays on the survival and profitability of aquaculture productions.
- Analyze the importance of sustainability in aquaculture.
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