FEATURE
India
Aqua feeds and feeding trends
by Dr B. Laxmappa, Fisheries Development Officer, Department of Fisheries, India
I
n aquaculture production India is the second largest country in the world after China. The terrestrial and aquatic animal farming sectors are rapidly expanding and intensifying in the country. Aquaculture, which counts for almost two thirds of fish production in India, has shown significant growth in the last two decades and has transformed itself into an industry contributing substantially to food production. A wide range of freshwater, brackish water and marine aquatic organisms are produced in India. The major groups are freshwater fish (carp, catfish, snakeheads, tilapia) and prawns (Macrobrachium sp.), penaeid shrimps (Penaeus monodon, Litopenaeus vannamei) crabs (Scylla sp.) and brackish water fishes (seabass, milkfish). Freshwater aquaculture production in India is about 4.2 million tonnes. Most of this production is carp, which account for about 90 percent of total freshwater production in India.
Aqua feeds
In India extensive fish culture is done in large freshwater bodies on natural food available without the application of external inputs. In semi-intensive and intensive fish production systems, supplementary feeding is provided in addition to the application of fertilisers to
improve natural productivity. Less expensive feed ingredients such as rice bran, wheat bran, corn fibre, corn meal, corn grains, broken rice, groundnut cake, cotton seed cake etc., are extensively used for feeding carp in freshwater aquaculture. Fishmeal and defatted oilseed cakes (soybean, mustard, and sesame) are also used when higher protein feeds are needed. Trash fish, poultry offal and other animal byproducts are used for carnivorous fish cultures in the country. In Indian aquaculture, use of industrially manufactured feeds started in the early 1990s when feeds were imported from Taiwan Province of China, Southeast Asia and the United States of America for shrimp production. Currently, India has more than sufficient capacity to produce adequate volumes of feed for freshwater prawn and marine shrimp farming. There is an adequate domestic feed ingredient resource base for most of the animal feed requirements of the aquaculture and animal production sectors (Table 1). Fortunately, India is one of the biggest exporters of soybean meal in the world and enjoys a competitive position as far as most aqua feed ingredients are concerned.
Feeding trends
In India, large fish culture ponds are fertilised with poultry or cattle manure throughout the production cycle. Fertilisation is well 20 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2015
managed and farmers routinely sample pond water to observe plankton production and add fertilisers when necessary. The fish are fed with de-oiled rice bran (90 percent) and groundnut or cotton oilseed cake (10 percent). The feedstuffs are blended with mineral mixtures and packed in plastic bags containing holes. These feedbags are suspended from ropes/poles in the culture ponds. Some farmers broadcast de-oiled rice bran (DORB) only in their culture ponds daily in the morning and evening. In Indian aquaculture de-oiled rice bran is the major ingredient of all fish feeds and is used either singly or in combination with other ingredients. In Andhra Pradesh, one or more of the following seven ingredients are mixed with rice bran to feed carp: rice polish, broken rice, groundnut cake, cottonseed cake, sunflower cake, meat meal and soybean meal. A recent survey showed that the majority of farmers use a blend of rice bran, groundnut oilseed cake and cotton oilseed cake. Catfish culture has recently expanded in the country. While India has a number of endemic catfish species including Clarias batrachus, Ompok pabda, Heteropneustes fossilis, Pangasius pangasius etc., the faster growing African catfish Clarias gariepinus and sutchi catfish Pangasius hypopthalmus, imported from Southeast Asia, have become the most widely farmed species in recent years. Pacu
FEATURE fish is also cultured in some pockets of India, particularly Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. But farmers typically use high stocking densities and mixed feeds composed of rice bran, oilseed cake residues, cooked maize grains, kitchen waste, poultry processing waste and others. Mud crabs are fed on a variety of diets including low-value/ trash fish, slaughter wastes, fish wastes, mussels, snails, shrimp heads, small bivalves etc. Today, owing to non-availability of commercial feeds and for economic reasons, more than 90 percent of farmers use farm-made feeds of cake-bran mixture or improved versions of the feed mixture in carp culture. Farm-made feeds are prepared based on ingredient availability and feeding experience. In Andhra Pradesh, farmers use defatted rice bran and groundnut oil cake in a 7:3 ratio, with feed additives mineral and vitamin mixtures. Interlinking of artificial feeding with natural fish food organisms has been found beneficial as it influences dietary efficiency and economic utilisation of the former. There has been a
rapid shift from traditional feeding to pellet feeding of nutritionally complete diets. In India, farmers frequently topcoat feeds with vitamins, minerals, squid oil, soya lecithin, Spirulina, probiotic bacteria and yeast, immuno-stimulants and feed attractants. Some farm-
ers topcoat every feed they use. However, the majority only topcoat their feeds for use during specific production phases when they consider growth rates to be declining or when environmental conditions are unfavorable. Today Indian farmers are using various types
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FEATURE
Table 1: Major conventional and non-conventional feed ingredients producing states in India Ingredients Rice bran
State producing major quantity Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Asom, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.
Groundnut cake
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha.
Sunflower cake
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar.
Mustard cake
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, North East Region.
Cotton seed cake Soybean meal
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan.
Fish meal
Maritime states
Shrimp waste
Maritime states
Silkworm pupae Poultry offal
Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Asom, Madhya Pradesh, North East Region. All states
Table 2: Type of supplementary feeds used for commercially important aquaculture species in India. Category
Species
Major Carps
Catfishes
Catla catla
Improved farm made feed
Labeo rohita
Improved farm made feed
Cirrhinus mrigala
Improved farm made feed
Clarias batrachus
Formulated feed
Clarias gariepinus
Poultry offal
Pangasius hypopthalmus Snakeheads
Feed type
Poultry offal, Cooked maize grains, Pellet feed.
Channa striatus
Chopped chicken intestines, trash fish
Channa marulius
Chopped chicken intestines, trash fish
Channa punctatus
Chopped chicken intestines, trash fish
Salmo trutta fario
Formulated feed
Oncorhynchus mykiss
Formulated feed
Schizothorax sp.
Formulated feed
Tor putitora
Formulated feed
Trout’s
Mahseers
Tor tor
Formulated feed
Tor mussullah
Formulated feed
Tor khudree
Formulated feed
Tilapia
Oreochromius niloticus
Prawn
Macrobrachium rosenbergii
Formulated feed, Pellet feed
Macrobrachium malcolmsonii
Formulated feed, Pellet feed
Shrimp
Penaeus monodon
Pellet feed
Litopenaeus vannamei
Pellet feed
Crab Others
Pellet feed
Scylla serrata
Minced trash fish
Scylla tranquebarica
Minced trash fish
Piaractus brachypomus
Formulated feed, Minced trash fish
Chanos chanos
Formulated feed
of feed ingredients in different compositions to feed species to get better yields in their farming systems (Table 2).
Aquafeed industry
Poultry offal
Lates calcarifer
Until recently, India was an insignificant player in the global fish feed sector due to its reliance on traditional feeding based on a few nutritionally poor agricultural by-products and the use of animal manure for plankton production. American Soybean AssociationInternational Marketing (ASA-IM) decided in
2003 to create a niche for better aquaculture feeds, linking the development to an array of better aquaculture practices to grow fish. Initial work focused on commercial feeding demonstrations that showed economic returns to the industry. India has a well-established capacity to produce feeds for shrimp and prawn culture. Until 1990 the sector relied solely on farmmade feeds. With the advent of large-scale semi-intensive shrimp culture in the early 1990s, vast quantities of shrimp feeds were 22 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2015
imported from Taiwan Province of China and Thailand. However, imports have gradually been replaced by domestically-produced feeds. Currently, the domestic shrimp feed manufacturing capacity exceeds demand. India has about 28 feed mills dedicated to the production of freshwater prawn and shrimp feeds. Out of these, 10 mills are subsidiaries to international aquafeed companies. Collectively, these companies account for 90 percent of shrimp and prawn feed sales in India. Stakeholders and potential entrepreneurs have also been also exposed to feed-based technologies in practice elsewhere in Asia. As a result of these efforts and excellent participation by private companies and entrepreneurs in the fish-farming sector, India has emerged as a significant producer of soybased extruded floating feeds, as well as sinking pellets for fish. The industry has invested in imported extrusion machinery to produce floating fish feeds.
Conclusion
In India semi-intensive and intensive freshwater fish production systems are predominantly based on farm-made feeds. An estimated 6.83 million tonnes of feed ingredients are used for producing farm-made feeds, while only 10,000 tonnes of industrially manufactured feeds are used in freshwater aquaculture. Preliminary data suggests that the use of manufactured feeds could bring about significant savings in carp production. Food conversion ratios (FCR) could be reduced from three to 1:1 when manufactured feeds replace farm-made feeds. There are additional benefits associated with manufactured feeds in the form of cleaner ponds and less labour for feed preparation and feeding. The principal constraint to the use of manufactured feeds in fish production is the perception that such feeds are not costeffective. Once feed manufacturers and farmers realise that it is possible to profitably produce and use feeds in fish farming, the use of manufactured feeds will increase. It is likely that the current use of manufactured feeds in freshwater fish farming will increase from 10,000 tonnes to at least 0.25 million tonnes within the next couple of years. Both farm-made and compound feeds are used extensively and the proportion varies by species. In shrimp feed the main ingredients are fish and soybean meal, wheat, rice and fish oil. In fish feed the main ingredients are oilseed meal, maize, bran, blood and bone meal. It is estimated that annual consumption of concentrated feed by the aquaculture sector is approximately 8.3 million tonnes, ranking third in the consumers of concentrated feeds in India, behind dairy and poultry. References available on request
FEATURE
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