Microencapsulation of diets and vaccines for cultured fishes, crustaceans and bivalve mollusks

Fishes, crustaceans and bivalve mollusks require different types of live diet during both larval and adult stages of development. The most commonly used live diets are Artemia, rotifers and microalgae. However, such diets are costly to produce, the final composition is variable and there is a risk of the cultures becoming contaminated with pathogenic viruses and bacteria. Great effort has therefore been made in recent years to design specific inert and nutritive particles, with the aim of developing artificial diets that are suitable for commercial aquatic species. This review reports on the main advances made in the application of microencapsulation techniques in marine and terrestrial aquaculture, especially with regard to nutrition and vaccination.