Because the nutritional requirements of alligator are unknown, commercial feeds are fortified to preclude nutritional deficiencies. Better diets can improve alligator husbandry, reduce production cost, enhance environmental quality in production systems, and increase farm profit margins. Development of effective ways to improve nutrition and feeding of captive-reared alligator will require substantially more information on nutritional requirements of the species. Feed costs are high nutritional requirements of alligator have not been determined and effects of nutrition on growth, health, and product quality are largely unknown. Lack of information on the basic dietary requirements of the American alligator presents a unique challenge for producers engaged in commercial aquaculture.
Despite its high value as an aquaculture product, however, little research has been conducted on the nutritional needs of alligator. In addition to skins, meat of farmed alligator is sold throughout the United States, and new biomedical compounds obtained from alligator show potential for use in treatment of some diseases. In 2018 Louisiana growers produced 612,610 meters (more than two million feet) of alligator skins with a farm-gate value of more than $102 million. Alligator production is now the second largest aquaculture industry in Louisiana and among the five largest animal-production enterprises in the state. Non Technical Summary Farming of the American alligator has become a significant aquaculture enterprise in Louisiana during the last 30 years.