Use of Feed Additives with Sorption Properties in Fish Farming: Literature Review
Authors: Kilyakova Yu. V. , Miroshnikova E. P. , Arinzhanov A. E. , Mingazova M. S. 
Published: January 2025

Introduction. Aquaculture is currently recognised as the most rapidly developing branch of agriculture. Various feed additives enable reduction of the negative impact of the production intensification measures on the hydrobionts and improve their immune status. The natural additives with sorption properties are of particular interest, they are environmentally friendly and cause no dependence. Humic acids, zeolites, aluminosilicates, charcoal, etc. are used as the sorption feed additives for fish. It is necessary not only to find a substance possessing the sorption properties that can be used as a feed additive, but also to determine its dosage, interaction with feed ingredients and other preparations, as well as its safety. The existing publications in the foreign and native scientific literature describe the research held in the certain hydrobionts species on inclusion in their diet of the certain sorption feed additives for a limited period of time. However, in the scientific literature, the review papers analysing the use of such feed additives in aquaculture are not available yet. The objective of the present review is to summarise the data available in the literature on the results of using the feed additives with sorption properties in fish farming.

Materials and Methods. To achieve the set objective, a search for the articles published on this topic in the period from 2006 to 2023 in the eLIBRARY.RU, PubMed databases was carried out by the keywords: feed additives in fish farming, fish feeding, feed additives with sorption properties, charcoal, zeolites, humic acids, chitosan, silica, opoka in the feed for hydrobionts. Only sources in Russian and English languages were included in the search. The papers that passed screening were analysed, systematized and presented in the form of a table, chart and PRISMA flow chart.

Results. The search yielded with 55 articles, which were included in this review. The information was systematized by the thematic units according to the substances used as feed additives and possessing the sorption properties. It was revealed that the most frequently used sorbents for both freshwater and marine fish were: active feed additive made of charcoal, zeolites, humic acids, humates. The main purposes for using the sorption feed additives were improving the physiological parameters of fish organisms and increasing the profitability of production. According to the literature sources, the natural sorbents were less often added directly to water.

Discussion and Conclusion. The summarised data obtained as a result of the review allow us to consider the feed additives with sorption properties as having a good perspective for implementation into fish farming. However, in the numerous studies conducted by the native and foreign authors, the dosages of sorbents included in the diet of the most of fish farming objects are not specified, the mechanism of their impact on fish is poorly studied, as well as there is no information on the duration and frequency of using the sorption feed additives in conditions of the industrial production, the reliable data on non-toxicity, synergism or antagonism of co-usage of the various feed additives is not available either. Thus, a more extensive work in this direction is required.