Investigating the potential of nutritional programming to improve the utilisation of sustainable feeds in aquaculture

该项目将采用“营养规划”的概念来提高水产养殖中饲料利用的效率。营养规划包括早期饮食干预，可以刺激敏感的早期发育阶段的生理功能，并有效地“规划”代谢和免疫过程，使动物在以后的生活中能够更好地应对类似的饮食挑战。具体来说，该项目将解决目前鲑鱼饮食中使用大量植物蛋白和植物油的问题，这可能导致鱼的性能下降，最终产品中omega-3脂肪酸的含量较低。鱼是健康饮食的重要组成部分，提供高质量的蛋白质，关键的矿物质和维生素，几乎是必需的omega-3脂肪酸，EPA和DHA的独特来源。增加这些omega-3脂肪酸的饮食摄入对健康有益，包括降低炎症和病理状况（包括心血管、神经和发育疾病）的发病率和严重程度。然而，所有海洋渔业都得到了充分利用，自2015年以来，一半以上的鱼类和海产品现在由水产养殖供应。矛盾的是，养殖鱼类，如鲑鱼，本身依赖于有限和有限的鱼粉（FM）和鱼油（FO）供应，它们本身来自海洋渔业。可替代的、更可持续的饲料已经被开发出来，大部分的鱼油和鱼油被植物蛋白和植物油取代。虽然替代策略在很大程度上是成功的，但它在降低养殖鱼类中的EPA和DHA水平方面产生了重大影响，损害了消费者的营养质量。替代水平现在已经达到了一个临界点，对鱼类生长、饲料效率，更重要的是，对鱼类健康有潜在的有害影响。目前研究的主要目的是开发新的尖端喂养策略，以提高基于植物成分的可持续饲料的利用率，从而提高健康和营养养殖鱼类的有效生产，使英国水产养殖业和人类消费者受益。营养规划概念已在哺乳动物中进行了研究，并在人类健康研究中引起了兴趣。结果表明，控制早期营养可以促进生长发育，降低特定健康问题的发生率或严重程度。在农业方面，了解早期营养影响的重要性可能有助于提高产量并减轻新饲料的潜在问题。在此之前，我们发现，在鲑鱼第一次被喂食极低海洋成分的食物时，当它们在3个月后被喂食类似的低海洋成分食物时，它们的生长得到了改善。这种效果与采食量无关，但与营养物质的利用和保留有关，特别是EPA和DHA的保留增加了许多倍。本研究的总体目标是确定营养规划的潜力，以提高极低海洋（低omega-3）成分的可持续饲料的效率，从第一次饲养到市场规模的长期研究，重点不仅是确定营养规划涉及的分子和遗传机制，还包括对鱼类健康的影响，量化在英国鲑鱼养殖中应用这一策略的潜在商业效益。该建议是及时的、高度相关的和适当的，因为它通过前沿研究响应了当前的需求，以改善水产养殖中现代替代饲料的利用，提高产量和饲料效率，同时保持养殖鱼类的健康和营养质量，提供更大的可持续性和粮食安全。

This project will use the concept of "nutritional programming" to improve the efficiency of feed utilisation in aquaculture. Nutritional programming involves an early dietary intervention that can stimulate physiological functions during sensitive, early developmental stages, and effectively "programme" metabolic and immunological processes so that the animal can respond better to a similar dietary challenge later in life. Specifically the project will address issues with current salmon diets that now use high levels of plant protein and oils, which can lead to reduced performance in the fish and the final product that has lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Fish are an important component of a healthy diet providing high quality protein, key minerals and vitamins, and an almost unique source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. Increased dietary intake of these omega-3 fatty acids is associated with beneficial health effects, including reducing incidence and severity of inflammatory and pathological conditions including cardiovascular, neurological and developmental diseases. However, all marine fisheries are fully exploited and, since 2015, more than half of all fish and seafood is now supplied by aquaculture. Paradoxically, farmed fish, such as salmon, are themselves reliant on finite and limited supplies of fishmeal (FM) and fish oil (FO), themselves derived from marine fisheries. Alternative, more sustainable feeds have been developed with much of the FM and FO replaced by plant proteins and oils. While the replacement strategy has been in the most part successful it has had a major consequence in reducing levels of EPA and DHA in farmed fish compromising their nutritional quality for consumers. The level of replacement has now reached a critical point where it is having potentially detrimental effects on fish growth, feed efficiency and, importantly, fish health. The key aim of the present research is to develop new cutting-edge feeding strategies to improve the utilisation of sustainable feeds based on plant ingredients and thereby enhance the efficient production of healthy and nutritious farmed fish to benefit UK aquaculture and human consumers. The nutritional programming concept has been investigated in mammals and gained interest in human health studies. Results indicated that controlled early nutrition can improve growth and development, and reduce incidence or severity of particular health issues. In agriculture, understanding the consequential importance of the impact of early nutrition may help to improve production and mitigate potential problems of new feeds. Previously, we showed that a brief exposure of salmon at first feeding to a diet with very low marine ingredients improved the growth of the fish when they were challenged 3-months later with a similar low marine diet. This effect was not related to feed intake but to improved nutrient utilisation and retention and, specifically, EPA and DHA retention were increased many-fold. The over arching objective of the present study is to determine the potential of nutritional programming to improve the efficiency of sustainable feeds with very low marine (low omega-3) ingredients in long-term studies from first-feeding through to market size with focus on defining not only the molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in nutritional programming but also the effects on fish health quantifying the potential commercial benefits of applying this strategy in UK salmon farming. The proposal is timely and highly relevant and appropriate as it responds to current needs with cutting edge research to improve the utilisation of modern alternative feeds in aquaculture, enhancing production and feed efficiency, while maintaining the health and nutritional quality of farmed fish, delivering greater sustainability and food security.