Modelling the impact of replacing fish oil with plant oils: A meta-analysis to match the optimal plant oil for major cultured fish

Abstract

The replacement of fish oil with plant oils is a common practice in aquaculture to compensate for the shortage of fish oil supply and has been thoroughly studied. However, because the experimental conditions vary in many aspects, the results are usually inconsistent quantitatively. Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted based on a dataset containing 328 articles to systematically model the influence of plant oils on the main aquaculture fish. In addition to demonstrating the species-specific dose-dependent impact of plant oils on fish growth, feed utilization efficiency, lipid deposition and health parameters, we have also investigated the role of other factors in this process. We found that the adverse effects caused by plant oils worsen as the experimental duration extends for Atlantic salmon, while Gilthead seabream and European seabass gradually adapt to the change. Further, water temperature could be a decisive factor for Rainbow trout, and early adaptation to plant oils would be helpful for Gilthead seabream. Moreover, sufficient fishmeal supply could alleviate the adverse effects caused by plant oils for most species, but for Gilthead seabream and European seabass, the growth suppression effect of plant oil was larger when fed high-fishmeal diets. Besides, by comprehensively considering the effects of plant oils, we matched the potential optimal plant oil for each fish species. Our article quantitatively modelled the adverse effects of replacing fish oil with plant oils, investigated the influences of assistant factors and offered a panorama of the research status with emphasis on potential breakthrough orientations.