The Way to Accessible Fish is through its Gastrointestinal Tract
Fish is a source of low-calorie, highly proteinaceous food rich in essential vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), making it an essential component of a healthy diet. In recent years, the output from capture fishery has stagnated, making aquaculture the primary source of fish we eat. However, the fish from aquaculture comes at a higher cost than capture fishery, mainly due to expenses associated with fish feed, which contributes 50 – 60 % of the operational cost of an aquaculture farm. My lab integrates the concepts of animal physiology with nutritional biology to develop cost-effective feed for better growth and other functions such as colour enhancement, disease and stress mitigation. To this end, we are currently working on three major areas; i) development of functional feed, ii) replacement of costly feed ingredients with locally available cheaper ingredients, and iii) development of a vitamin-mineral mixture to increase the nutritional value and efficiency of farm-made fish diets. For the FULL ABSTRACT, go to the "Speakers" tab.