The environmental impact and development direction of grass carp, <i>Ctenopharyngodon idella,</i> aquaculture

Grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella, is the largest freshwater aquaculture fish species worldwide. However, its environmental impacts are increasingly controversial. In this paper, we considered production of a 1500 g commercial grass carp as an example, analyzed through life cycle assessment. The results showed that indicators global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential, eutrophication eco-toxicity (FAETP), land competition (LC), and fossil energy consumption producing 1 kg were equivalent to 5.7267 CO2, 0.0648 1,4-DCB0, 0.0010 P, 0.0276 SO2, 8.2951 m2, 0.3491 oil, respectively, mainly from feed processing water pollution. Compared with pig, beef, sheep production, has lower impacts, but in terms GWP, FAETP, LC significantly higher than chicken especially pollution discharge, which important consideration. This study clarifies direction key focus areas include low carbon nitrogen emission feed, application ecological engineering system, intelligent mechanization technology equipment.