Aquatic Weeds as Functional Ingredients for Aquaculture Feed Industry: Recent Advances, Challenges, Opportunities, New Product Development (NPD) and Sustainability

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in the use of aquatic weeds as a valuable component in the development of aquaculture feed.  Various species of aquatic weeds like Ipomoea aquatica, Lemna minor, Pistia stratiotes, Eicchornia crassipes, Azolla pinnata Nymphaea nouchali, and Nymphaea lotus have been identified and studied for their nutritional composition and potential benefits of fish production, health status, defense mechanism and disease resistance. The aquatic weed has a great potentiality to reduce the dependency on fish meal and offers environmental benefits in terms of weed management and habitat conservation in various waterbodies of Bangladesh. Thus, the conversion of these aquatic weeds into valuable products could play a crucial role in sustainability of the aquaculture industry and mitigating environmental hazards as well as pollution. Nevertheless, there are several challenges like variability of nutritional composition, presence of anti-nutritional factors, high fibre content, and potential health hazards need to be addressed for successfully use of aquatic weeds in fish feed. Semi-solid-state fermentation (SSSF) approaches can reduce the ANFs and fibre of fish feed for cost effective aquaculture feed. Furthermore, it is essential for scientists to understand the major phases involved in the development of novel goods. In summary, the incorporation of aquatic weeds in aquaculture feed will open up the new horizon for sustainability of aquaculture feed industry.