Nutrition and Feeding in Aquaculture

Code:

MA313

Acronym:

NAA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Applied Biology

Instance: 2015/2016 - 1S (of 14-09-2015 to 30-10-2015)

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	28	Plan 2012 to 2017	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

The interaction between the animal and its food constitutes the subject of the first chapter of discipline. One brief historical summary of the evolution of the knowledge of fish feeding in the context of the animal production is given. Moreover, it will be compared the current situation of the animal production against the aquaculture production in Portugal and worldwide. The concept of fish feeding and nutrient requirement, as well as importance, qualitatively speaking, of fish protein to human health is also discussed. In the following chapter, a revision of the aspects of the anatomy, important to fish digestion and the metabolism, becomes particularly important. The anatomy of digestive tract, the digestion of proteins, lipids and the carbohydrates, constitute the central point to discuss. During the third chapter of this discipline, the influence of abiotic and biotic factors (and their interactions) on the growth performance of fish will be debated. In addition, the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the nutrients requirement are analyzed. A comparative perspective of nutritional physiology (amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals) between fish and other species is also given. There will be discussed the quantitative and qualitative requirements of these nutrients for fish species currently more produced in Europe and worldwide. Chapter five is dedicated to the methodologies of digestibility study of feed ingredients and formulated diets. The existing methods for the determination of the digestibility coefficients are presented, as well as the evolution of the methods for feces recovery. Energy budget in fish, poikilotermic animals, in comparison with homeotermic animals constitutes the main subject to be dealt within the following chapter. The seventh chapter will be dedicated to the study of the voluntary feed intake in fish. They will be displayed and analyzed the referring aspects to the feeding strategies and feeding systems, to the effect of the ambient factors, the physiological relation of the feeding behavior and endocrine regulation of feed intake. To conclude this chapter, an overview of the factors regulating the voluntary feed intake will be given. In chapter eight, the students will have an overview of the relative aspects to the classification and selection of raw materials frequently use for the processing of fish feed, as well as the techniques to control the chemical and microbiological quality. The chapter nine is dedicated to the study of the feed formulation by the application of mathematic methods for manually formulating the diets, on the basis of the linear programming, and by the application of computer software. It is also discussed the problems related to the adjustment of the diets to the feeding systems. The last chapter of the discipline is dedicated to the study of the processing techniques of the formulated fish diets. An overview of the main basic and complementary processes of the feed production, with emphasis of the state-of-the-art extrusion and pelleting technologies, is discussed. The control of the production quality and physical properties of the feed are also discussed.

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 overhead sheets, 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

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

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

Calculation formula of final grade

Evaluation: Final grade = Final exam