Background The aquaculture of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is a crucial pillar industry in China’s marine farming sector, with rapid development in recent years and continuously expanding cultivation scales. However, during the rapid industrial development, traditional feed suffers from issues such as unbalanced nutritional ratios, poor preservation properties, and environmental pollution, severely hindering the quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, and sustainable development of A. japonicus farming. In this context, the development of nutritionally balanced, environmentally friendly and efficient compound feed has become a research focus in the breeding industry of A. japonicus.

Objective This paper aims to systematically summarize the practical application effect of compound feed in the breeding of A. japonicus, and deeply analyze its impact on the growth performance, digestive function, and immune function of A. japonicus, which will provide theoretical basis and technical reference for the healthy breeding of A. japonicus and the research and development of efficient feed, solve the constraint problem of lagging feed research and development on industrial development.

Progress The paper systematically reviews the latest research progress on the nutritional requirements of A. japonicus compound feed, and summarizes the appropriate requirements of A. japonicus for protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals in compound feed. In the development of compound feed raw materials, the paper summarizes the current applications of various terrestrial and aquatic plants as alternatives to and optimizations of traditional algal feedstocks, as well as the potential of fermentation technology to enhance feed nutritional value.

Prospects In the future, research on compound feed for A. japonicus needs to strengthen the exploration of precise nutritional requirements for different growth stages of A. japonicus, expand the efficient utilization and processing methods of unconventional raw materials, and deeply develop of fermentation technology and research on its mechanism of action, which will improve the theoretical system of precise nutritional requirements for A. japonicus and promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the A. japonicus industry.