Research Progress on Copra Meal in Aquafeed

The aquafeed industry is currently facing severe challenges such as increasingly tight supply and price fluctuations of traditional high-quality protein ingredients like fish meal and soybean meal. Therefore, actively exploring and developing new, stable, efficient, and sustainable feed protein sources to replace fish meal and soybean meal has become an urgent task and an important strategic direction for ensuring the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. Copra meal is a widely available plant protein source with lower cost compared to fish meal and soybean meal, demonstrating good application potential. However, copra meal has disadvantages including low protein content, imbalanced amino acid profile, high crude fiber content, numerous anti-nutritional factors, and low digestibility. These issues can be addressed through certain treatments (e.g., fermentation or water soaking) to enhance its nutritional value. Currently, research on copra meal in aquafeed is still relatively scarce. To enable the broader and more effective application of this promising feed ingredient in aquafeed, this review systematically summarizes the current research progress on the nutritional characteristics, appropriate inclusion levels, processing improvement technologies, and the effects of copra meal on the growth and health of aquatic animals, aiming to provide references for promoting resource diversification and sustainable development in the aquafeed industry.