What is the effect of adding fish oil to feed?

Fish oil is a by-product of fishmeal processing, obtained from fish and fish waste through steaming, pressing and separation. The main components of fish oil are: triglycerides, phosphoglyceryl ethers, lipids, fat-soluble vitamins, and protein degradation products. No toxic substances such as mercury, arsenic or lead have been detected in the bodies of marine fish, while potassium, copper, aluminum, cadmium and others are all below the permitted health limits, and pesticide residues are almost zero, so the quality of the oil obtained by processing fish and fish waste is reliable.

1. Fish is one of the high-energy substances, with each gram of fat containing 94 calories, more than twice that of protein and carbohydrates, and animals digest it very efficiently. Practice has shown that adding fish oil to eel bait gives a total utilization rate of more than 90%. After being absorbed by the animal, it is mainly converted into energy for its activity and consumption, which increases the available energy in the feed, reduces the portion of protein consumed as an energy source, and thus achieves the goals of saving protein, raising feed energy, lowering feed costs, and promoting animal growth and development.

2. The phospholipids contained in fish oil are indispensable components of the animal brain, nerve tissue, bone marrow, heart, liver, eggs and spleen, and at the same time help the digestion, absorption, transport and formation of lipids, and are also important structural substances of biological membranes.

3. In addition to providing the n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids essential to animals, fish oil also serves as a carrier for fat-soluble vitamins A and D and carotenoids, promoting the absorption and utilization of vitamins as fat-soluble substances. A deficiency of essential fatty acids in animals will cause stunted growth, reduced reproductive function, subcutaneous edema and hemorrhage, dull body color and other diseases. In particular, it can increase the content of n-3 fatty acids in the diet, and these fatty acids can reduce prostaglandins, thereby raising the level of antibody production in livestock, saving the amount of livestock antibiotics used, and achieving the effects of disease prevention and treatment.

The linoleic acid contained in fish oil can affect egg size, but has no effect on the total lipid content of the yolk; it does, however, affect the level and composition of fat in the liver. Linoleic acid is a key factor controlling lipoprotein synthesis in the liver, and lipoproteins are transported through the blood to the ovaries, where they develop into follicles, thereby controlling egg size. Practice has shown that 2.75 grams of linoleic acid per laying hen significantly increases egg weight. In addition, adding fish oil to laying hen feed reduced the cholesterol content of eggs by 20%, so that people who eat these eggs show no change in blood cholesterol levels, whereas eating ordinary eggs increases cholesterol. The laying rate of laying ducks at peak production is generally around 80%, and after the peak it drops to about 605. It is reported that this phenomenon is related to insufficient fat, vitamin protein and amino acid nutrition in the feed, and fish oil exactly makes up for this. If 2% fish oil is added to the diet of laying ducks after the peak production period, the laying rate can be raised to about 73%, and the average income per bird increases by 70%. Adding fish oil at 3%-5% of the total feed amount during feed processing can improve feed nutrition, promote biological growth, improve the meat quality of aquacultured fish, livestock and poultry, and prevent excessive fat in the animals themselves. Furthermore, fish oil has a strong fishy smell and is highly palatable. In addition, fish oil contains large amounts of fat-soluble vitamins A and D, which can guarantee the requirements of livestock, poultry and aquatic animals.