Photo: National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood ResearchNutrition, fish health and welfare
Aquaculture worldwide is a significant and rapidly expanding seafood producing industry; however, live production always means a risk of losses due to imbalanced nutrition, infectious diseases, and environmental challenges that compromise fish welfare.
These problems increase with the growth and intensity of the farming industry. However, efforts to improve performance, enhance resistance to infectious diseases, and prevent production related disorders through dietary manipulation are an important contribution to maintaining good fish health.
There is an increasing body of research on the use of single nutrients and additives as health promoters and modulators of the immune system in fish. The ongoing research within fish nutrition related to health and welfare at NIFES, deals with the intersection between nutrition and fish diseases, and covers research on nutritional deficiencies, nutritional toxicities, modulators of immune system, and production related, non-infectious disorders (like cataracts and bone deformities) of possible nutritional origin observed in today’s aquaculture.
Last updated 8 March 2010