Soy In Aquaculture - Quick Facts

ASA-IM feeding demonstration site in China

Harvesting an ASA-IM feeding demonstration in China

Tilapia harvested from an ASA-IM feeding demonstration in China

Fish harvested from an ASA-IM feeding demonstration in China

Global Demand for Aquatic Products

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Ocean capture fisheries, which have long provided the majority of edible fish products for the world, have reached maximum sustainable yields.

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Demand for fishery products will continue to increase in response to projected human population growth of nearly 50%, to 9.1 billion, by 2050.

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Key constraint to sustainability of aquaculture production will be the availability of cost effective, renewable protein ingredients for fish feeds.

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Global fishmeal supplies are already insufficient to sustain the growing aquaculture production using fishmeal-based feeds.

Why Soybean Meal?

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Soybean meal has increasingly become a key ingredient in fish feeds as the aquaculture industry strives to meet global demand for its products. Key factors that make soybean meal the top protein product for sustainable aquaculture include:

Quality

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Soybean meal is consistent in quality, and can be produced in a range of protein levels to suit the needs of the aquaculture industry.

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Soybean meal has the best amino acid complex of all of the plant protein ingredients for use in feeds for the majority of fish species cultured globally.

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Soybean meal is highly digestible to most cultured fish and shrimp species.

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Soybean meal can replace all or most animal meals in the feeds for the majority of cultured omnivorous freshwater fish.

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Soybean meal can replace a significant portion of marine animal protein meals in the feeds of many cultured marine fish species.

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Feeding trials with feeds formulated with soybean meal as the primary protein source have yielded rapid fish growth and low feed conversion ratios.

Cost

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Soybean meal has a significantly lower cost than most animal meals, particularly marine animal protein meals.

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Reducing feed cost is critical to improving efficiency and maintaining sustainability in aquaculture operations.

Availability

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Soybean meal is a renewable plant protein ingredient.

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Availability of renewable protein products will be critical to the future of the global aquaculture industry.

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In comparison to static production of marine animal meals, soybean production has grown more than tenfold in the last four decades, and can continue to grow to meet demand from the aquaculture industry.