Quality attributes of fish feeds and their potential effects on the aquatic ecosystem and aquaculture sustainability in East Africa

Abstract

Low quality feeds are an impediment to sustainable fish farming in East Africa. Low quality feeds affect fish growth, pollute the aquatic ecosystem, escalate conflicts among competing water resource users, and affect enterprise sustainability. We investigated the physical and nutrient attributes, and the aflatoxin levels of selected fish feeds in E. Africa. The actual crude protein and crude lipid of the feeds deviated from the package quoted values by −20 to 7% and −5.5 to 9.6%, respectively. All feeds were inadequate in essential minerals, and their aflatoxin levels were low (range: 8.71 ± 0.52 to 71.90 ± 0.59 µg/kg). We highlight the potential effects of using low-quality feeds on the fed fish, aquatic ecosystem, and aquaculture sustainability in East Africa. To ensure a healthy aquatic environment with reduced resource-use conflicts and sustainable fish farming, ambitious policy reviews are recommended.