Data from: Microencapsulated diets to improve bivalve shellfish aquaculture

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector and feeds over 3 billion people. Bivalve shellfish aquaculture makes up 25% of global aquaculture production and is worth annually US$19 billion, but continued growth is currently limited by suboptimal diets and limited tools for disease control. New advances in microencapsulation technology could provide an effective way to overcome these biological limitations. This study demonstrated that a new formulation of microencapsulated diet known as BioBullets could be ingested by a commercially farmed bivalve; the blue mussel Mytilus edulis. Microparticles could be captured by mussels with similar efficiency to natural foods. Microparticles too large for ingestion were rejected in psuedofaeces. Microparticles were successfully ingested and broken down by the gut. Further work is needed to assess the impact of BioBullets diets on bivalve growth. There is now an exciting opportunity to tailor the composition of microencapsulated diets for specific applications to improve production output and efficiency in the commercial bivalve shellfish industry.

水产养殖业是增长速度最快的食品产业，目前为全球超过30亿人口提供食物。双壳贝类水产养殖占全球水产养殖总产量的25%，年产值达190亿美元，但当前其持续增长受到次优饲料与病害防控工具匮乏的制约。微囊化技术的新进展可为克服这些生物学限制提供有效途径。本研究证实，一款名为BioBullets的新型微囊化饲料配方，可被商业养殖的双壳贝类——紫贻贝（Mytilus edulis）摄食。贻贝对该微颗粒的捕获效率与天然饵料相当。尺寸过大无法被摄食的微颗粒会通过伪粪排出体外。微颗粒可被成功摄食并在肠道内完成分解。目前仍需开展进一步研究，以评估BioBullets饲料对双壳贝类生长的影响。当前，针对特定应用场景定制微囊化饲料的组分，可有效提升商业双壳贝类养殖产业的产量与生产效率，这一发展机遇令人振奋。