Let Food Be Thy Medicine: Feed Strategies to Maintain and Improve Fish Gut Health

Aquaculture has emerged as an increasingly important contributor to the food production and food security all around the world. In this context, fish aquafeeds optimization represents a never-ending challenge to guarantee a rapid and sustainable growth of the sector, produce high quality and nutritious seafood, and increase fish welfare — with particular attention on gut health.

“Gut health” is a term increasingly used in animal farming. It covers multiple positive aspects of the gastrointestinal tract, such as the effective digestion and absorption of food, the absence of gut illness, normal and stable intestinal microbiota, effective immune status and a state of well-being. It is demonstrated that gut health is strictly correlated to the general health status of animals and that gut health is largely influenced by feeding ratio, ingredients, additives and nutrients.

We will describe the multiple interactions between feed and the gut health of aquaculture fish, to better know what is the current knowledge on this issue and imagine the future perspectives in developing new feeding strategies and pro-health feeds for a more sustainable aquaculture.