The feed industry is a pillar of the national economy. It will play an important role in national food security, the quality of aquatic products, and in developing a circular economy in rural areas. In 2015 the production of aquatic feed 19 million tonnes, making China the world’s largest feed producer.

With the development of aquaculture in China the feed industry has inevitably faced some challenges such as low popularity of formulated feeds with farmers, water pollution, use of trash fish, fish meal and fish oil issues, provision of accurate nutrition and feeding, antibiotic residues, food safety, and so on. Innovation to address sustainability and improve the income of fishermen are very important.

In order to balance economic and environmental issues the Chinese Government released its 13th Five-year Plan last year. Some policy changes relevant to aquaculture are described below.

Support of fisheries polices

Environment protection taxes will have to be paid starting in 2018 for livestock producers that exceeding a certain threshold size based on head count. Aquaculture may have to pay in future. However, the government still will keep a low-level tax or zero tax for new high-tech feed enterprises. In recent years, the government has revised the regulations on standards for feed and feed additives at the state, local government, industrial and enterprise levels. Standards include labeling and hygiene of feeds, the system of supervision and management, a catalogue of feed additives and feed materials, imported feed and feed additives, an efficiency validation system for new feed and feed additives, a “big data” collection platform and early warning mechanisms for feed quality and safety have been established. A modern agricultural technology system was been established eight years ago and it has provided steady support for research into aquatic nutrition and feed production, supporting the development of a modern feed industry.

The new patterns of aquaculture

Total fisheries production is expected to be maintained at around 66 million tonnes to 2020. In view of changes of fishery policy, innovations, coordination, green development, open data and sharing are beneficial to aquaculture. An increase in the quality and safety of food and income of fishermen with a decrease in wastewater discharge and fishing intensity will be welcomed. New patterns of “rice-fish culture”, raceway pond aquaculture and solar-powered aquaculture systems will be developed. The new patterns of aquaculture will determine what feeds or fish species are cultured and will represent the development of green and ecological aquaculture, fostering new growth areas with structural adjustment and transformation of fishery development.

Alternative protein sources

Feed cost is the main cost for aquaculture and accounts for more than 60% of the total cost of aquaculture. The price of feed is mainly determined by the protein sources, especial fishmeal. In recent years, the quantity of imported fishmeal remained relatively stable at 1.0 to 1.5 million tonnes in China, which accounted for 20% fishmeal production in the world. In China, many studies have been carried out on the replacement of fishmeal. In the past few decades, increased knowledge of feed manufacturing techniques, amino acid requirements at different life stages, environmental factors and establishment of a database on digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, total lipid, gross energy, amino acid and phosphorus for cultured species have led to reductions in the use of fishmeal in aquafeeds. Now the commonly used alternative protein sources for fishmeal include animal by-products such as poultry by-product meal, meat and bone meal, blood meal, feather meal and hydrolysed feather meal, and so on. Plant protein sources include soybean meal, fermented soybean meal, extruded soybean, cottonseed meal, rapeseed meal, peanut meal, corn gluten meal, distiller grain meal and single-celled proteins derived from algae and yeast. In recent years, some new alternative proteins such as silkworm pupa meal, maggot meal and yellow mealworm meal and earthworms have been used. Chinese aquaculture production increases have been achieved with reduced fishmeal utilisation. However, the substitution of fishmeal in the diets of carnivorous species is still a huge challenge. Some new technology, such as genetic modification, processing technology of enzymes and fermentation will contribute to the replacement of fishmeal in the diets.