Aquaculture, which is an ancestral activity in some countries, has been modernizing and upgrading very rapidly for the last fifty years. After a first period which has allowed, to farmers , to ensure "very comfortable" margins, the global production increasing, market prices fell. Today it is essential to optimise production costs to maintain an acceptable margin for producers.
The recent dramatic situation induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fall of the market and the increase of production costs, has highlighted several factors that further weaken the situation of aquaculture producers, as the dependence on only a few international markets, the dependence on only few raw materials for the formulation of aquaculture feeds such as soybean meal and fish meal.
Therefore, it becomes essential to optimise the farming methods, for that purpose several tracks are possible. The feed is the one of the most important because it is the main production cost for the fish farmer, especially because of the high price of the proteins.
The incorporation of a protease in the formulation of a feed allows to seriously improve the digestibility of the long chain protein. Thus, it would allow to increase the proportion of news vegetable proteins, while maintaining a good digestibility and a correct amino acid profile. Moreover, the incorporation of an efficient protease in the formulation of the aquafeed would allow to increase significantly the percentage of digestible proteins and therefore it is possible to lower the gross protein content without affecting the zootechnical results.
Finally, when making purchases, consumers are increasingly sensitive to the environmental impact of aquaculture operations when making their purchases, especially since they are often located in fragile areas such as mangroves. Therefore, I will also discuss how the use of protease in the feed reduces the impact on the environment in three ways:
Reducing the impact on the environment is important first and foremost from an ecological point of view to preserve the planet. But it is also important to ensure the sustainability of the farms and for the sake of image and sustainability of shrimp farming.