Nutrition and Feeding in Aquaculture

Code:

MA313

Acronym:

NAA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Applied Biology

Instance: 2022/2023 - 4T (of 24-04-2023 to 16-06-2023)

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Veterinary Clinics
Course/CS Responsible:	Aquatic Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LCMA	34	Official Study Plan	3	-	5	49	135

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

During the course of the discipline “Nutrition and Feeding in Aquaculture”, the students will learn fundamental knowledge in the domain of applied biology. Within the scope of nutrition of aquatic animals, basic knowledge of the animal nutrition, with specific orientation to the fish nutrition and feeding, will be dealt. The transformation of relatively low valued food, to more attractive ones to human consumption, is the main goal of any animal production study. Even though the possibility to attain 100% conversion efficiency is an unachievable task, the degree in which the feed ingredients are used, constitutes the central concern of the nutritionists. The costs of the formulated feed in an intensive aquaculture system represent between 40 and 70% of the total production costs. The careful preparation of the discipline of Nutrition and Feeding in Aquaculture, will contribute for the preparation of capable and independent professional to contribute for the aquaculture management of the feed resources.

Learning outcomes and competences

Learning the general principles of nutrition and feeding fish.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Programme topics
Introduction
Basic concepts and methodology
Digestive phisiology
Bioenergetics
Regulation of feed intake
Proteins and amino acids
Carbohydrates and fiber
Lipids and fatty acids
Raw materials and additives
Formulation principles

Mandatory literature

Guillaume Jean 070; Nutrition and feeding of fish and crustaceans. ISBN: 1-85233-241-7
Halver John E. 340; Fish nutrition. ISBN: 0-12-319651-5
Steffens Werner; Principles of fish nutrition. ISBN: 0-7458-0555-8
Halver John E. 340; Finfish nutrition and fishfeed technology. ISBN: 3-87903-052-9

Teaching methods and learning activities

The program described above mainly intends to have the students to reflect how aquaculture evolved from fishing practices activity to a complex interdisciplinary science, throughout the theoretical and practical lessons. Face to the evolution of the scientific knowledge, the same will be adjusted and improved whenever necessary. The theoretical lessons constitute the first motivation of the students for each one of the subjects to be treated throughout the discipline. Whenever possible they will be followed by didactic material, such as slides, that allow the best understanding of the subjects. The theoretical lessons will be as interactive as possible in order to drive their attention to the importance of the subjects. To bring a fruitful scientific dialogue within the class constitutes is an important challenge for the education within the applied sciences in animal biology. The presented bibliography will be constituted by text books, being the complete bibliographical list supplied to the students at the beginning of the course. A hand-out was prepared in Portuguese, especially for this discipline by compiling information from the most well-known international books dealing with fish nutrition and feeding. The practical lessons constitute an essential complement of the theoretical lessons, providing simultaneously some practical experience in the feed analysis, formulation and production, and application of growth parameters in the evaluation of results in nutrition assays. At the beginning of each practical lesson, students will receive a guiding protocol with the aim(s) to reach at the end of each lesson, the methodologies and equipments to use, whenever an equipment is foreseen to be used. The several exercises presented during the course of the discipline were prepared using real data taken from articles published in scientific journals and magazines.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	90,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	10,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	20,00
Estudo autónomo	66,00
Frequência das aulas	49,00
Total:	135,00

Eligibility for exams

Terms of frequency: According to the rules of ICBAS/UP

Calculation formula of final grade

Evaluation: Final grade = 0,90 * Final exam + 0,10 * Practical work

Classification improvement

The mark of the practical work cannot be improved. To improve the final mark of the curricular unit, students can only improve the exam mark, with a weight to the final mark of 90%.