Advances on the nutrition requirements and effects of dietary nutrition on immunity for blunt snout bream,Megalobrama amblyocephala Yin

Blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) is one of the major freshwater aquaculture species in China, and aquaculture of this species has been rapidly expanded in the last decade. Efforts have been made over the past two decades, especially in the case of farmed fish species, to understand the dietary nutritional requirement. However, dietary nutritional requirements have generally been based on growth and deficiency symptoms, rather than on the health status indicators including immune responses and disease resistance. Generally, the physiological outcomes attributed to these nutrients or additives are presumed to be translated to good health and protected water environment. In addition, some ingredients such as vitamin have showed to play an important role in immunity function of fish. Aqua-feeds of the future are expected to impart dual benefits of good growth and health to the farmed organism, and preventive health care through nutritional means is certainly a strategy to ensure sustainability in environment friendly aquaculture. Indeed, this review addressed these concerns by providing an overview of published nutrient requirements(dietary protein, lipid, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals)on the growth and the links between nutrition, immune response and resistance to diseases of M. amblycephala, and the influence of water temperature on the determination of these nutrients requirement in order to provide scientific references for efficient development of compound feed for this species.