Regarding increasing demand of fish meal and growth of aquaculture in the world, occurrence of some climate events such as El Nino caused in oscillation of production, supply and price of fish meal in global market. Annually fish meal and fish oil are produced about 7 and 1 million tons respectively from 33 million tons of whole fish and fish waste in the world. Chile and Peru are the major producers of these products due to their abundant reservoirs of Anchovy are responsible of about 50 percent of the fish feed in the world. In 2008 Peru, Chile and Thailand were the main producers of FISHMEAL with producing 1.4 million tons, 800 and 470 thousand tons, respectively in the world. The most importation was belonged to China with 1.3 million tons and the most exportation was pertained to Peru with 1.6 million tons in 2008. Average global market price of fish meal was 1461.7 $ per ton in 2012. There are 47 fish meal factories in Iran and the maximum capacity production of them is 1200 ton/RM/day. Despite the problems in preparation of raw material for the production, for the reason decrease of fish meal imports and high demand for fish meal price of their products have escalated. Hence, high demand of fish meal and its effect on fish diet cost, has been caused to increase retailing of the fish up to 470 percentage. Furthermore the fish meal industry targeted planning and coordination of fishing and aquaculture programs is the need aquaculture development.

Ephippia Moina macrocopa hatching relates to the quality of nutrients received by the parent. Increasing the quality of the parent feed can improve the quality of the nutrient in eggs (ephippium) and can increase hatchability. This study was conducted to examine the addition of fatty acids in the feed through replacing rice bran suspension with FISHMEAL suspension on the quality and quantity of ephippia M. macrocopa. The treatment in this research was a substitution of rice bran suspension with FISHMEAL suspension by 0, 15, 30, and 45%. This study indicated that substitution of rice bran suspension with FISHMEAL suspension of 30% and 45% in Moina culture produced the same ephippia production but with a higher degree of hatching. Moreover, the substitution of rice bran suspension with FISHMEAL suspension by 30% increased the concentration of n-3 fatty acids (1. 15%) in the egg of ephippia M. macrocopa.

Along the plant ingredients, rendered animal protein sources such as blood meal, meat and bone meal and poultry by-product meal have potential to be replaced by FISHMEAL in rainbow trout feed. Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to determine the effect of full replacement of FISHMEAL by poultry by-products meal (PBM) on fish performance, nutrient digestibility and also liver characteristics in rainbow trout. Four experimental diets were formulated to contain graded levels of PBM at 0 (control diet), 33 (PBM33), 66 (PBM66) or 100% (PBM100), respectively. The four treatments were randomly assigned to each of 12 tanks, having three replicates for each treatment. Rainbow trout juveniles with an average initial weight of 50±0.42g were reared for two months. The fish gained lower weight and specific growth rate at PBM 66% and 100%. FCR was recorded larger for rainbow trout feeding on PBM 66% and 100% in comparison to PBM 33% and control diets (p<0.05). The whole exchange of FISHMEAL by PBM (PBM100%) reduced dry matter, fat and protein digestibility (p<0.05). An increase in PBM content of diet also resulted in larger fat content of the fish liver (p<0.05). Body fat content reduced and moisture content increased by increasing PBM level (p<0.05). In conclusion, PBM can be included in rainbow trout feed as an alternative for FISHMEAL up to 33%. A larger fat content of liver at PBM 100% may indicate a negative impact of PBM on rainbow trout health at full replacement level.

The present study investigated the cultivation of Dunaliella viridis microalgae in the stickwater (SW) from the wastewater of FISHMEAL factories. For this purpose, Gillard culture medium (F/2) was used as a control treatment and five different levels of SW including 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100% were used. Then, these microalgae were cultured in 8-liter plastic containers for 14 days to evaluate the algal density and pigment contents (chlorophyll a and total carotenoids). The results of the present study showed that by increasing in the concentration of SW up to 75% the cell density was increased. In addition, the pigment contents were significantly affected by SW concentrations and the highest amount of chlorophyll a was observed at a concentration of 75% SW compared to other treatments (p<0. 05). Also, the highest amount of carotenoids was recorded simultaneously in 75% and 50% SW treatments compared to other treatments (p<0. 05). According to the obtained results, using SW at 75% is feasible to grow D. viridis microalgae.

The main goal of the current study was to investigate the effects of low protein diets along with FISHMEAL replacement by plant protein in rainbow trout diet. In the current study, three protein levels (32, 36 and 40%) and three FISHMEAL levels (20, 40 and 60%) were tested in rainbow trout. Amino acid content of the diets were balanced by addition of essential amino acids. This led to nine experimental diets and three replicates for each treatment. The results showed that growth parameters were influenced by protein level (p<0. 05). However, FISHMEAL replacement only changed final weight and specific growth weight (p<0. 05). The result also revealed that the interaction effect between protein level and FISHMEAL replacement was significant only for specific growth rate (p<0. 05) and there were no interaction effect for other growth parameters (p>0. 05). Maximum growth was observed in fish fed diet containing 36% protein and 40% FISHMEAL. Both protein level and FISHMEAL replacement affected TAN excretion in rainbow trout (p<0. 05) and minimum ammonia nitrogen was observed in treatments 36p20f and 32p40f (p<0. 05). In conclusion, the current result suggested that lowering dietary protein by 36% and also FISHMEAL replacement by plant protein up to 60% did not have a negative impact on growth parameters in rainbow trout when dietary essential amino acids were balanced. This condition also can lead to a lower ammonia release to water.

The potential of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) as a fast method to predict the Crude Protein (CP) and Moisture (M) content in FISHMEAL by scanning spectra between 1000 and 2500 nm using multivariate regression technique based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) was evaluated. The coefficient of determination in calibration (R2 C) and Standard Error of Calibration (SEC) were 0.95 and 14.03 g/kg Dry Matter (DM) and 0.80 and 3.52 g/kg, for CP and M content, respectively. This study proved that the application of NIRS using PLS is well fitted to evaluate the protein and moisture content of FISHMEAL.

The use of plant proteins in substituting FISHMEAL (FM) is mitigated by several anti nutritional factors (ANF) like phytic acid, non starch polysaccharides and protease inhibitors. Fermentation of the plant ingredients can reduce the ANF and improve feed utilization and growth rate of fish. We produced five isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets using solid state fermented bambara nut meal (BNM). Fermented BNM substituted FM in diets of African catfish Clarias gariepinus. The FM: BNM inclusion percentages of the diets were, F1, 50: 5; F2, 35: 20; F3, 20: 35; F4, 5: 50 and F5, 0: 56. There was a control feed labelled as F6. Feed F6 was a variant of F1 but with non fermented BNM. Fingerling African catfish C. gariepinus with average weight 5. 14± 0. 05 g were fed with the diets for 56 days. Specific growth rate (SGR) was best for the catfish fed with F1, 7. 82± 0. 25 % day-1, followed by those fed with F6, 7. 35± 0. 24 % day-1. There were, however, no differences in SGR of F2, 7. 26± 0. 18 % day-1 and F6. The food conversion ratio was lowest and best for the catfish fed with F1, 1. 24± 0. 19 and F2 1. 34± 0. 06. The growth and nutritional performance of fish fed with F2 were as good as F1 and costeffective. Feeds made from fermented BNM had better FCR than those from raw BNM. Fermentation increased the protein and amino acid content of the BNM and the catfish gained more weight than from raw BNM. The effects of ANF seem to be highly reduced in solid-state fermented BNM thereby enhancing catfish growth.