Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly?
Globally, demand for food animal products is rising. At the same time, we face mounting, related pressures including limited natural resources, negative environmental externalities, climate disruption, and population growth. Governments and other stakeholders are seeking strategies to boost food pro...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:313793fd01294e16b27aeb9ce0c9424f 2023-09-05T13:18:14+02:00 Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? Jillian P Fry Nicholas A Mailloux David C Love Michael C Milli Ling Cao 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 https://doaj.org/article/313793fd01294e16b27aeb9ce0c9424f EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/313793fd01294e16b27aeb9ce0c9424f Environmental Research Letters, Vol 13, Iss 2, p 024017 (2018) aquaculture agriculture food security animal production efficiency Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 2023-08-13T00:37:40Z Globally, demand for food animal products is rising. At the same time, we face mounting, related pressures including limited natural resources, negative environmental externalities, climate disruption, and population growth. Governments and other stakeholders are seeking strategies to boost food production efficiency and food system resiliency, and aquaculture (farmed seafood) is commonly viewed as having a major role in improving global food security based on longstanding measures of animal production efficiency. The most widely used measurement is called the ‘feed conversion ratio’ (FCR), which is the weight of feed administered over the lifetime of an animal divided by weight gained. By this measure, fed aquaculture and chickens are similarly efficient at converting feed into animal biomass, and both are more efficient compared to pigs and cattle. FCR does not account for differences in feed content, edible portion of an animal, or nutritional quality of the final product. Given these limitations, we searched the literature for alternative efficiency measures and identified ‘nutrient retention’, which can be used to compare protein and calories in feed (inputs) and edible portions of animals (outputs). Protein and calorie retention have not been calculated for most aquaculture species. Focusing on commercial production, we collected data on feed composition, feed conversion ratios, edible portions (i.e. yield), and nutritional content of edible flesh for nine aquatic and three terrestrial farmed animal species. We estimate that 19% of protein and 10% of calories in feed for aquatic species are ultimately made available in the human food supply, with significant variation between species. Comparing all terrestrial and aquatic animals in the study, chickens are most efficient using these measures, followed by Atlantic salmon. Despite lower FCRs in aquaculture, protein and calorie retention for aquaculture production is comparable to livestock production. This is, in part, due to farmed fish and shrimp requiring ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Environmental Research Letters 13 2 024017 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
aquaculture agriculture food security animal production efficiency Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
aquaculture agriculture food security animal production efficiency Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Jillian P Fry Nicholas A Mailloux David C Love Michael C Milli Ling Cao Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
topic_facet |
aquaculture agriculture food security animal production efficiency Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Globally, demand for food animal products is rising. At the same time, we face mounting, related pressures including limited natural resources, negative environmental externalities, climate disruption, and population growth. Governments and other stakeholders are seeking strategies to boost food production efficiency and food system resiliency, and aquaculture (farmed seafood) is commonly viewed as having a major role in improving global food security based on longstanding measures of animal production efficiency. The most widely used measurement is called the ‘feed conversion ratio’ (FCR), which is the weight of feed administered over the lifetime of an animal divided by weight gained. By this measure, fed aquaculture and chickens are similarly efficient at converting feed into animal biomass, and both are more efficient compared to pigs and cattle. FCR does not account for differences in feed content, edible portion of an animal, or nutritional quality of the final product. Given these limitations, we searched the literature for alternative efficiency measures and identified ‘nutrient retention’, which can be used to compare protein and calories in feed (inputs) and edible portions of animals (outputs). Protein and calorie retention have not been calculated for most aquaculture species. Focusing on commercial production, we collected data on feed composition, feed conversion ratios, edible portions (i.e. yield), and nutritional content of edible flesh for nine aquatic and three terrestrial farmed animal species. We estimate that 19% of protein and 10% of calories in feed for aquatic species are ultimately made available in the human food supply, with significant variation between species. Comparing all terrestrial and aquatic animals in the study, chickens are most efficient using these measures, followed by Atlantic salmon. Despite lower FCRs in aquaculture, protein and calorie retention for aquaculture production is comparable to livestock production. This is, in part, due to farmed fish and shrimp requiring ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jillian P Fry Nicholas A Mailloux David C Love Michael C Milli Ling Cao |
author_facet |
Jillian P Fry Nicholas A Mailloux David C Love Michael C Milli Ling Cao |
author_sort |
Jillian P Fry |
title |
Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
title_short |
Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
title_full |
Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
title_fullStr |
Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
title_sort |
feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 https://doaj.org/article/313793fd01294e16b27aeb9ce0c9424f |
genre |
Atlantic salmon |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 13, Iss 2, p 024017 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/313793fd01294e16b27aeb9ce0c9424f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa273 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
024017 |
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1776199241827352576 |