Fish meal is a high-protein feed that uses one or more kinds of fish as raw materials, and is processed by degreasing, dehydration, and crushing. The main fishmeal-producing countries in the world are Peru, Chile, Japan, Denmark, the United States, the former Soviet Union, Norway, etc. Among them, the export volume between Peru and Chile accounts for about 70% of the total trade volume. Many researchers have also been researching alternatives to fishmeal, but so far it is still not to find any other feed that can replace fishmeal because of the rich components of the fish meal.

Components of fish meal

High biological value of fish meal

The protein content of the high-quality imported fish meal is more than 60%, and some are as high as 70%; the content of various amino acids is high and balanced, so it’s biological value is also high, and it is a high-quality animal feed for balanced poultry diets.

Higher energy

Fishmeal contains higher fat, and imported fishmeal contains about 10% fat; therefore, the metabolizable energy in fishmeal is usually 11.7-12.55 MJ/kg for chickens. However, its fat is easily oxidized, which often causes vitamin A and vitamin E to be deficient with oil oxidation. At the same time, fat oxidation heats up, which is one of the reasons for the spontaneous combustion of fish meal.

High calcium and phosphorus content

fish meal contains 3.8%-7% calcium, 2.76%-3.5% phosphorus, and the calcium-phosphorus ratio is 1.4-2:1. The better the quality of the fish meal, the higher the phosphorus content, and the phosphorus utilization rate is 100%. However, during the storage process, due to chemical decomposition, phosphorus is released to become elemental phosphorus. Elemental phosphorus has a very low ignition point and can be natural without an open flame. This is the second reason why the fish meal is easy to spontaneously ignite during storage.

The high content of trace elements

Fish meal contains six kinds of trace elements commonly used by chickens, especially zinc and selenium are the highest. According to analysis, each kilogram of sea fish meal contains 97.5-151 mg of zinc, tuna meal is as high as 213 mg, and freshwater fish meal is 60 mg; sea fish meal contains 1.5-2.2 mg of selenium per kilogram, and tuna meal is as high as 4-6 mg.

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Rich in B vitamins of fish meal

especially rich in choline and vitamin B2. According to analysis, per kilogram of Peruvian fish meal contains 27.1 mg of vitamin B, 9.5 mg of pantothenic acid, 390 micrograms of vitamin H, 0.22 mg of folic acid, 3978 mg of choline, 68.8 mg of niacin, and 110 micrograms of vitamin B12.

High digestibility

The digestibility of fishmeal protein and fat by chickens is 91%-93% and 78%-91%, respectively.

High salt content

The salt content of the imported fish meals is about 1.5%-2.5%. The national standard for domestic fish meal is 4% for first- and second-class fish meal, and 5% for third-grade fish meal, but the actual unadulterated fish meal exceeds the standard, and some are as high as 15%-20%; in recent years, most of the fake fishmeal has low salt content, and some fake fishmeal is less than 1%. Due to the high salt content of the fish meal, it is easy to absorb moisture, which is conducive to the reproduction of bacteria, molds, and yeasts, causing the temperature to rise, often agglomerating, moldy, and even spontaneous combustion. This is another reason why the fish meal is prone to spontaneous combustion during storage.

To sum up, the above, fish meal is not only an excellent animal protein feed for balancing protein and amino acids but also a good feed for balancing minerals, especially trace elements.

Raw materials of fish meal

Generally speaking, the raw materials of fishmeal are fish machine seafood with low food value, and processing waste can also be used, such as fish head, tail, bone, fin, etc. The quality of the fish meal produced is closely related to the quality of the fish. . Using spoiled fish as raw material for fishmeal not only affects the output of fishmeal but also causes environmental pollution.

2 different ways to classify fishmeal

The first one is classified according to the nature and color of the raw materials, divided into an ordinary fish meal (orange or white), white fish meal (mainly seabass), brown fish meal, mixed fish meal, whale meal, fish meal (using waste such as the fish head).

The second, according to the raw material parts, can be divided into the whole fish meal (using the whole fish as the raw material for producing fish meal), fortified fish meal, coarse fish meal, adjusted fish meal, mixed fish meal, and fish powder meal. Fishmeal processing requires a series of supporting equipment. Depending on the production, the equipment of the machine is also different.