article · Reviews in Aquaculture
Rising fishmeal costs and growing market demand have driven the aquaculture industry to evaluate plant protein substitutes for farmed carnivorous fish. To resolve conflicting evidence across diverse trials, a systematic review and meta-analysis synthesised findings from 256 studies examining fish growth, feed utilisation efficiency, blood lipids, and liver health. The analysis revealed that Atlantic salmon, African catfish, Black seabass, and Hybrid striped bass utilised plant proteins more effectively than Grouper and Japanese seabass. Cottonseed and lupin proteins emerged as the most promising alternatives, whereas rapeseed resulted in significant growth suppression. Furthermore, advanced processing methods, including enzymolysis and fermentation, effectively mitigated adverse health and growth outcomes when plant proteins replaced less than half of dietary fishmeal. These findings provide species-specific benchmarks for dietary substitution in carnivorous fish farming.
Carnivorous fish farming traditionally relies heavily on wild-harvested fishmeal, creating economic and ecological pressures as demand rises. Determining how different farmed species respond to crop-based diets enables producers to adopt sustainable alternatives. This comprehensive synthesis of hundreds of trials clarifies which plant proteins maintain fish health and growth, reducing reliance on finite marine resources while stabilising feed costs.
Aquafeed manufacturers and commercial fish farms can apply these findings to refine feed formulations for specific carnivorous species. The evidence indicates that substituting under half of fishmeal with fermented or enzymolysed cottonseed and lupin is an applied and tested approach. Feed processors can use these processing thresholds to scale sustainable diet production without risking fish growth or liver health, moving directly into formulation trials for commercial operations.
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Abstract The price of fishmeal (FM) has been increasing continuously due to the expansion of the gap between its stable production and rising demand. Therefore, plant protein sources are widely applied in the aquaculture industry to accomplish the protein requirement of farmed fish species. However, the massive number of results produced under various experimental conditions appended challenges for comprehensive summarization and comparison of the effects of plant protein sources on carnivorous fish species. Thus, a systemic review and meta‐analysis were conducted to compare the impacts of various plant protein sources on growth, feed utilization efficiencies, blood lipid, and liver health of representative carnivorous species. Supported by the data from 256 articles, our results indicated that Atlantic salmon, African catfish, Black seabass, and Hybrid striped bass were better at utilizing plant protein sources than Grouper and Japanese seabass. Cottonseed and lupin proteins were promising protein alternatives, while rapeseed showed significant growth suppression effects for these carnivorous fish species. Besides, deep processing methods such as fermentation and enzymolysis alleviated undesirable consequences effectively when less than half of FM was replaced by plant protein sources. Moreover, the optimal plant protein sources are discussed for each fish species. Overall, this article depicts the impact patterns of major plant protein sources on carnivorous farmed fish species and lays a solid foundation for further investigation on mechanisms for improving plant protein utilization.
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DOI: 10.1111/raq.12888
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