Sustainable Alternatives for Dietary Fish Oil in Aquafeeds: Actual Situation and Future Perspectives

Fishmeal and fish oil have been for a long time the dominant raw materials for aquaculture feeds but these are limited and finite resources. Plant oils extracted from oilseeds are the main candidates as sustainable substitutes for fish oil in fish feeds and many studies have demonstrated the feasibility of their use. Plant oils are rich in linoleic and a-linolenic acids but lack in eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids that belong to omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and whose food consumption has been shown to have beneficial effects on human health. In the light of these considerations, it is clear that the most important problem of the replacement of dietary fish oil with plant oils is a reduction of the nutritional value of the flesh of farmed fish. This review attempts to provide an overview of the effects of the major plant lipid sources alternative to fish oil tested in studies carried out on farmed fish species