The production of marine fish in aquaculture plays a fundamental role within the scope of guaranteeing food security. In order to obtain raw materials for compound feed, in recent years there has been a need to increase the use of alternative meals and oils to those originating from the fisheries. Several vegetable meals, like wheat gluten, corn gluten, rapeseed, soy and oleaginous plants, have been used to successfully replace fishmeal. The production of marine micro and macroalgae is also seen as a promising alternative to with potential uses, including their incorporation into marine fish feed, utilizing ingredients such as their protein, lipids and vitamins, as well as other compounds with bioactive properties.
Algae, due to their smaller production compared with other terrestrial vegetable ingredient sources, have been used more in larval or post-larval stages where their consumption is incomparably lower than in the pre-fattening and ongroing. Additionally, the role of bioactive compounds is more important to guarantee the survival and welfare at early life stages.
In this work we present the trials that were carried out to evaluate the impact of the incorporation of algae biomass into feed. Moreover, we give an overview of the several analytics that can be used to access the impact on fish (Fig. 1), considering the constraints of using smaller and limited samples. It is intended that the various fine analytical processes will allow to predict the impact of these incorporations on a long-term basis, beyond the end of each test.