Feed Additives in Aquaculture

Aquaculture is an important sector within animal production worldwide. Despite its rapid growth in recent decades, it has encountered certain challenges in the availability of raw materials for feed production, the appearance of epidemic outbreaks, and the overall environmental sustainability of the sector. One emerging strategy for addressing these challenges is the development and use of feed additives. These additives are products, not raw materials or premixes, intentionally added to feed to achieve an effect on the feed itself, on animals, on food products obtained from animals, or on the environment. The research carried out on this subject in recent decades has allowed the development of a large number of additives that can currently be used in aquaculture, although their use and regulation are more advanced in terrestrial farmed species. Among the most used additives, there are pro- and prebiotics, enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, and other functional compounds obtained from plants, bacteria, micro and macroalgae, fungus, or other animals (i.e., insects or crustaceans). In accordance with the safety demands of consumers and with the strategies developed worldwide to reduce the climate and environmental footprint of food production, the current trend is toward the development of increasingly sustainable feed additives, of natural origin and not toxic. Its effects on aquaculture species are being studied through physiology, immunology, and different –omics using cutting-edge techniques. In order to analyze all these advances in feed additives, this chapter gathers the main research in this regard, emphasizing natural additives or those that favor sustainability. In addition, recent changes in legislation concerning development and use of feed additives are analyzed, as well as future perspectives on their use as key tools to increase the sustainability of the food sector. © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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