Home » Precision Nutrition Is Reshaping Aquaculture Feed Formulation
13 Aug 2026
Precision Nutrition Is Reshaping Aquaculture Feed Formulation
Precision nutrition is reshaping aquaculture feed formulation
Aquaculture feed formulation is moving toward a precision nutrition (PN) approach, in which diets are designed around the specific energy, nutrient and intake needs of the species, life stage and production environment rather than broad population averages.
A recent review in Aquaculture Nutrition outlines how PN is being applied to energy evaluation, amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids, palatability control, ingredient assessment and digital tools. Together, these developments point toward a more targeted approach to aquafeed formulation in which nutrient supply is increasingly linked to biological requirements and real production conditions.
Precision nutrition aims to reduce nutritional waste by matching feed composition more closely to what the animal can actually digest, absorb and use at a particular stage of production.
From crude to digestible and net energy
Traditionally, aquafeeds have been formulated on a gross energy or crude protein basis. Under PN, the focus is shifting to digestible energy (DE) and, in some cases, net energy (NE), which better reflect the energy actually available to the fish after accounting for losses in faeces, urine and heat increment.
Research across multiple fish species shows that the energetic value of digested protein, fat and carbohydrates differs markedly, and that carnivorous species utilize digested carbohydrates less efficiently than omnivores.
This variability supports a move from DE to NE-based evaluation as ingredient portfolios diversify and macronutrient composition becomes more complex.
The same amount of digestible energy does not necessarily deliver the same biological value. Protein, lipid and carbohydrate can generate different metabolic costs depending on the species and the way each nutrient is utilized.
Precision on essential nutrients
PN also means moving beyond crude protein and crude fat toward specifications based on digestible amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
The “ideal protein” concept is being extended to include non-essential amino acids and non-protein nitrogen sources, such as nucleotides and choline, under an “essential nitrogen concept”, allowing formulators to better match nitrogen-carrying nutrients to production goals.
Precision formulation is increasingly about nutrient function rather than simply nutrient concentration. The goal is to provide the right amino acids, fatty acids and other essential compounds in forms and proportions the animal can effectively use.
Omega-3 nutrition becomes more targeted
For omega-3 fatty acids, requirements are increasingly defined relative to total lipid intake and life stage, with optimal EPA:DHA and omega-3:omega-6 ratios varying among species and over time.
This is particularly relevant as aquaculture expands beyond traditional marine lipid sources. Formulators are using a wider range of lipid ingredients, including:
- Fish oils
- Vegetable oils
- Algal oils
- Genetically modified plant oils
- Blended lipid systems
The challenge is to satisfy the fish’s physiological requirements while also meeting market-driven expectations for fillet composition and nutritional quality.
Omega-3 formulation has two targets: supporting the biology of the fish and delivering the flesh-quality profile expected by the consumer.
Palatability and intake control
Feed intake remains a key driver of performance. PN distinguishes between hedonic regulation, which is short-term and sensory-driven, and homeostatic regulation, which reflects longer-term energy balance.
This distinction becomes increasingly important as fishmeal levels decline and alternative raw materials are incorporated into aquafeeds.
Palatability enhancers such as hydrolysates, nucleotides, free amino acids and betaine are therefore being used more strategically to maintain intake and feeding efficiency.
A nutritionally sophisticated diet has little value if the fish does not eat enough of it. Precision nutrition therefore treats feed intake and palatability as integral components of formulation rather than secondary considerations.
The review highlights the lack of standardized palatability assessment methods as a major constraint. Developing agreed protocols could help formulators use a broader range of ingredients with greater confidence, particularly in stress-prone or high-performance systems.
Ingredient assessment becomes more sophisticated
Because diets are delivered through ingredients, PN requires more objective ingredient evaluation. Ingredient selection can no longer depend simply on crude protein content or purchase price.
Cost competitiveness
Consistent supply
Bioavailable nutrient profiles
Food and feed safety
Regulatory compliance
Sustainability performance
Sustainability metrics can include carbon footprint, land-use change and biodiversity impact, adding another dimension to formulation decisions.
The lowest-cost ingredient is not necessarily the most efficient ingredient once digestibility, variability, health risk, environmental footprint and supply reliability are considered together.
Avoiding sustainability “problem shifting”
Risk management frameworks, including HACCP-style reviews and life-cycle assessment, are increasingly used to screen raw materials for contaminants, supply-chain volatility and environmental trade-offs.
The objective is to avoid “problem shifting”, where an intervention that reduces one environmental burden creates another elsewhere in the system.
For example, lowering the carbon footprint of a diet may not represent an overall sustainability improvement if the replacement ingredient significantly increases land conversion, freshwater demand or biodiversity pressure.
Precision nutrition broadens the definition of efficiency: a formulation should work nutritionally, economically and environmentally without simply transferring impacts from one part of the supply chain to another.
Digital tools and big data move into formulation
PN is supported by a growing suite of digital tools, including:
- Advanced feed formulation software with detailed ingredient databases
- Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for rapid nutrient prediction
- Nutritional and growth modeling
- Artificial intelligence and machine-learning analysis
- Large commercial production datasets
- Real-time environmental and performance monitoring
These tools can enable diets to be adjusted according to genetics, health status, environmental conditions and performance data, moving feed formulation toward a more dynamic model.
The long-term direction of precision aquaculture nutrition is toward feedback-driven feeding systems in which biological and environmental data continuously inform formulation and feeding decisions.
Big data reveals responses invisible in small trials
One example cited in the review is the use of big-data analysis across more than 230 million Atlantic salmon over a 10-year period to quantify the benefits of higher EPA+DHA levels on growth and production outcomes.
Datasets at this scale offer a different perspective from conventional nutritional experiments. Controlled trials remain essential for establishing biological mechanisms, but commercial data can reveal how nutritional responses behave across different seasons, environments, genetics and production conditions.
Large-scale production datasets can help bridge the gap between experimental nutrition and commercial reality.
Toward digital twins and dynamic feeding
The combination of nutritional models, sensors and big-data analytics is paving the way for technologies such as digital twins, sentinel-animal monitoring and dynamic feeding strategies.
Instead of formulating one diet for an entire production phase, future systems may increasingly adjust nutrient supply as biological requirements and environmental conditions change.
This could be especially valuable in aquaculture, where water temperature, oxygen availability, feeding behavior and growth rate can change rapidly and strongly influence nutritional requirements.
Precision nutrition ultimately shifts feed formulation from a static recipe toward a continuously optimized biological system.
Outlook
The review concludes that PN offers a clear pathway to improve efficiency, animal health and sustainability in aquaculture by systematically removing points of waste from the formulation process.
Future advances will depend on better energy evaluation, more precise nutrient specifications, improved ingredient assessment and wider adoption of digital tools to link feed design with real-world performance.
Precision nutrition is pushing aquafeed beyond least-cost formulation. The emerging model combines digestible nutrients, species-specific physiology, ingredient quality, sustainability data and real-time production information to deliver the right nutrients, in the right form, at the right time.
Source / reference
Glencross, B. “Optimization of precision nutrition for aquaculture feed.” Aquaculture Nutrition (2026). DOI: 10.1080/29932181.2025.2610126.
