Tornando os desperdícios agrícolas em rações nutritivas e funcionais para a aquacultura: uma abordagem eco-inovadora para melhorar o bem-estar e qualidade dos peixes marinhos

Facing the current and future challenges that compromise the sustainable growth of the aquaculture sector, the GreenFeed4Fish is an innovative project with a great focus in environmental sustainability and both animal and human welfare, intending to create, for the first time, a bridge between two distinct production sectors – aquaculture and agriculture. GreenFeed4Fish will focus on the Mediterranean framework: i)evaluating the potential of agricultural wastes (AWs) from different raw materials typically accessible in this region and produced in levels compatible with industrial usage; ii) using a farmed marine carnivorous fish species with a prominent position in the Mediterranean aquaculture as a biological model; and iii) testing the biofortified aquafeed potential on improving Sparus aurata resilience under stressors that a) are expected to increase in frequency and intensity in the Mediterranean region due to climate change effects and b) have serious consequences for aquaculture establishments (i.e. elevated fish mortality due to disease outbreaks and heat stress/hypoxia). Thus, GreenFeed4Fish main objective is to explore the potential of agricultural wastes as alternative and sustainable aquafeed ingredients with nutritional and functional properties, in order to: 1) Validate an eco-innovative extraction methodology that enables the acquisition of high quality and safe extracts from different AWs, that comply with the requirements of the EU food law; 2) Improve farmed marine fish immunocompetence, resilience to stress (disease outbreaks, i.e. vibriosis prompted by the emergent pathogen Vibrio harveyi, and extreme climatic events, i.e. marine heatwaves) and welfare using a non-chemical approach (i.e. biofortified aquafeeds that incorporate high quality and safe extracts from different AWs in order to avoid resource to vaccines and pharmaceuticals in aquaculture); 3) Upgrade the quality of farmed seafood products (i.e. nutritional value and shelf-life) that will improve human health and welfare by mitigating human populations’ deficiency in key micronutrients while assuring sensorial quality and safe seafood consumption; 4) Promote sustainable and climate-smart production practices in aquaculture, that meet the Circular Economy framework and the 2030 United Nations Agenda.