Course Contents

Nutrient Digestion and Absorption: An over-view of fish nutrition; Type of fish species, Feeding habits and adaptations, Feeding Rates, Frequency and Timing, Predators, Grazers and Strainers, Composition of feed, Types of feeding and nature of food (Natural and artificial food), Effect of Environment (Internal and external) on nutritional requirements of fish, Energy Balance in fish, Ratio of protein to carbohydrates in the balance diet, Factors affecting energy requirements of fish, Measurement of the energy requirements of fish; Digestible energy, Metabolizable energy, Net energy Nutritional Requirements: Carbohydrates, Proteins and amino acids, Optimum dietary protein level in fish, Functions of proteins, Protein synthesis in fish, Essential amino acids and their function in fish body, Protein synthesis in fish, Lipids and essential fatty acids requirement, Dietary requirements of Phospholipids in fish, Lipid Pathology, Dietary essential fatty acid deficiency causes and symptoms, Dietary essential fatty acid toxicity affecting fish growth and feed efficiency, Vitamins, Fat soluble Vitamins, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Panthothenic acid, Nicotinic acid, Biotin, Folic acid, Vitamin B12, Inositol, Vitamin C and water soluble vitamins, Vitamin A, D, E and K, Sources of Vitamins, Intestinal Synthesis of Vitamins, Vitamin Deficiency Symptoms in fish, Minerals. Supplementary Feeding, Effect of supplementary feeding on fish growth and feed conversion ratio, Other Dietary Components; Water, Fiber, Hormones, Antibiotics, Antioxidants, Pigments, Pellet binders and Feeding stimulants. Recent Advancements in Fish Nutrition: Fish feed Formulation, Feed formulation strategies, Balancing crude protein levels, Steps in feed formulation, Pearson’s square method, Trial & Error 2 method, Fact sheet feed formulation by Computer software, prepared (artificial) diets, ingredients of artificial diets, Feed Types, Floating or Buoyant Feeds, Pressure-Pelleted (Sinking) feeds, Automatic feeders, Feed Conversion and Efficiency Calculations, Feed Protocol and Feed Care and Storage Fish Health and Disease Management: Causes of fish disease, Signs of diseases in fish, Common symptoms of disease, Types of fish diseases (Infectious vs Non-infectious), Methods for disease prevention, Parasitic Diseases (White Spot Disease (Ichthyophthirius), Anchor Worm (Lernaea), Fungal infections: Fish fungus, Bacterial Diseases (Furunculosis, Columnaris, Infectious dropsy, Vibriosis, Fin Rot/Tail Rot, Ulcer Disease & Haemorrhagic Septicaemia), Viral infections (Cyprinid Herpes Virus, Spring Viremia of Carp: notifiable disease), Environmental Fish Diseases, Diagnosis and Management, Environmental Risk factors, Genetic Risk Factors. Gas bubble diseases, Acidosis, Alkalosis, Ammonia Toxicity, Nitrite Toxicity, Hypoxia, Hypercapnea, Swim Bladder Stress Syndrome. Nutrigenomics: Genomics and Aquaculture, Functional genomics – the combination of genomics. Dietary chemicals, Diet-regulated genes role in the onset, incidence, progression and severity of chronic diseases, Dietary intervention based on knowledge of nutritional requirement of fish, nutritional status and genotype.

Course Learning Outcomes

To teach about the concepts of fin fish feeding requirements and recent trends in feed formulation and manufacture.  To provide information about nutrient requirements of different commercially important fish species and their nutrient requirements under variable environmental conditions.  To enable the students to understand the recent trends in fish feed technology for economical yields.