The potential of a solid-state fermentation supplement to augment white lupin (Lupinus albus) meal incorporation in diets for farmed common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

A 10-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of partially substituting soya protein concentrate (SPC), with white lupin (Lupinus albus) meal in carp (Cyprinus carpio) diets. This study further investigated the dietary inclusion of a solid-state fermentation (SSF) product of Aspergillus niger in tandem with SPC replacement. Six experimental diets were produced to be isonitrogenous (42%), isolipdic (8%) and isoenergetic (19 MJ kg−1). Four diets were formulated to have 12.5 and 25% substitution of SPC using lupin meal, and with and without a supplement of 0.1% of SSF. An additional two diets were designed to serve as a basal reference with no SPC replacement, but one supplemented with 0.1% SSF inclusion. The results of this study showed that SPC can be replaced with up to 25% white lupin meal in carp diets, without reduction of growth performance, feed utilisation, body composition, gut integrity or health. The addition of SSF to the test diets enhanced growth performance (specific growth rate, P < 0.05) and nutrient utilisation (e.g. feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio, P < 0.05)

Effects of dietary baker’s yeast extract on the growth, blood indices and histology of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus L.) fingerlings

Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (average initial weight, 5.91 ± 0.04 g), were fed four isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets for 84 days. The diets contained four levels of yeast extract (CW‐I) rich in nucleotides and β‐glucan: 0 (control), 5, 10 and 15 g/kg diet. Weight gain increased linearly, whereas the feed conversion ratio decreased linearly with increasing levels of yeast extract. The diet containing 15 g/kg yeast extract resulted in significantly better (p 0.05) differences were found in dry matter, protein, lipid or ash contents or in haematocrit, haemoglobin or total protein contents among the treatment groups. Blood sample profiles showed an increase in white and red blood cells in fish fed 15 g/kg yeast extract in comparison with the other treatment groups. The fish fed the diets with 10 and 15 g/kg yeast extract had significantly higher albumin and globulin levels than the control group, whereas decreased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were noted in fish fed the diet with 15 g/kg yeast extract. Histological analysis of the liver and intestine in fish fed the control diet showed a slightly abnormal structure in these organs. Only in fish fed diets supplemented with the highest amount of yeast extract was the structure of the hepatocytes and villi almost unchanged, which indicated that the yeast nucleotides could improve hepatic function and promote liver and gut restoration

Benefits of a commercial solid-state fermentation (SSF) product on growth performance, feed efficiency and gut morphology of juvenile Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fed different UK lupin meal cultivars

A nutritional investigation was conducted to determine whether growth performance, feed efficiency and midgut morphology of Nile tilapia is affected by United Kingdom cultivars of Yellow Lupin (Control, Y) (YLC) or Blue Lupin (Control, B) (BLC) inclusions compared to the addition of a commercial solid-state fermentation product (SSF) in separate dietary treatments for both lupin cultivars (YLS and BLS). After 49 days of feeding, tilapia receiving SSF supplemented diets (YLS & BLS) exhibited significantly greater weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and condition factor (K) compared to YLC or BLC without solid state fermentation. SSF inclusion exhibited significantly improving of enterocyte height within both the first and second half of the experiment (P .05); although a potential response over time was apparent in the YLS group. Enterocyte microvilli were significantly wider in fish fed YLC diets (P < .05), whilst they were significantly longer in the BLC control compared to the YLC control (P < .05). Microvilli lengths of fish fed YLS were comparable to those receiving BLC diets and close to being significantly longer than those fed YLC alone (P = .06). Overall, BLC appeared to perform superiorly to YLC; whilst SSF inclusion promoted some desirable production parameters, seemingly most effectively in the YLC diet

Dietary nucleotides enhance growth performance, feed efficiency and intestinal functional topography in European Seabass ( Dicentrarchus labrax )

Nucleotides, nucleosides and nucleic acids (NU) have many critical functions in supporting life and increasing evidence suggests that exogenous supply can benefit the health of mammals and fish. For these reasons, a 6‐week feeding trial was conducted on juvenile European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) with diets containing 0%, 0.15% and 0.3% inclusion of a NU mixture (Laltide®) derived from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. At the end of the study no significant differences were found in fish performance, although a tendency towards better performance was indicated in fish fed the Nu0.3 diet. In relation to histological assessment, a significantly greater perimeter ratio; internal to outer (IP/OP) was observed in the posterior intestine of fish fed supplemental NU. Microvilli heights in the posterior intestine were also shown to be significantly promoted in fish fed NU diets (p 0.05). Overall, this study indicates that orally administered NU may be effective promoters of gut functional topography with marginal associated improvements to fish performance. Nonetheless, longer exposure and/or commercial scale application, and in diets that were challenging in use of high inclusion levels of plant by‐products would potentially amplify improvements in production characteristics, in turn benefiting fish culturists

Partial dietary fish meal replacement with cotton seed meal and supplementation with exogenous protease alters growth, feed performance, hematological indices and associated gene expression markers (GH, IGF-I) for Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

A 12-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of different ratios of fish meal (FM): cotton seed meal (CSM) without or with inclusion of exogenous protease in diets on growth performance, hematology, digestibility and selected gene expression markers (GH and I (IGF-I) of juvenile Nile tilapia. The experimental diets were categorized into three groups; the first group CSM1 which contained fish meal protein: cotton seed meal protein (FM: CSM = 2:1), the second group CSM2 which contained FM: CSM = 1:1 and the third one CSM3 contained FM: CSM = 1:2 on protein content based. All groups were supplemented with exogenous protease at 0 and 2500 U kg−1 diet, respectively. All diets were fed to fish (initial body weight 11.62 ± 0.03 g fish−1) in triplicate aquaria twice daily. The higher weight gain (WG), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and best feed conversion ratio (FCR) were recorded by fish fed CSM1 and CSM2 and supplemented with 2500 U protease/kg diet. The highest apparent digestibility coefficient of crude protein, crude lipid and digestible energy, and apparent availability coefficient of essential amino acids were obtained by fish receiving CSM1 and CSM2 supplemented with protease (2500 U protease kg−1 diet). The highest mean values of Hb, Htc and RBCs were recorded in fish fed CSM1 and CSM2 supplemented with protease enzyme (2500 U protease kg−1 diet). Serum of alanine and aspartate aminotransferase activities were improved due to dietary protease (2500 U protease kg−1 diet) supplementation, also, fish received the diets supplemented with protease 2500 U kg−1 diet generally had higher total protein, albumin, calcium and phosphorus than those fed diets without supplement. The highest growth hormone (GH) gene expression in brain and liver of tilapia were obtained in the group fed CSM3 and un-supplemented with protease enzyme followed by CSM2 (un-supplemented). On the other hand, tilapia fed CSM1 and CSM2 supplemented with protease enzyme showed the highest values of gene expression of insulin like growth factor I (IGF-I) in brain and liver of tilapia compared to other groups. Results above showed that supplementation of protease can improve growth, nutrient assimilation, and hematology and alter gene expression of GH and IGF-I of Nile tilapia

Appraisal of a high protein distiller’s dried grain (DDG) in diets for European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax fingerlings on growth performance, haematological status and related gut histology

High protein distiller's dried grains (HP‐DDG) are co‐products of ethanol production that uses prefractionation technology. An 8‐week growth trial was conducted to investigate the effect of partial replacement of soybean meal (SBM) by three levels of HP‐DDG (30%, 40% and 50%) on growth performance, physiological parameters and histological changes of the intestine of European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax. The results indicated that an increased dietary level of HP‐DDG of more than 30% significantly increases growth performance and improved the FCR of sea bass. In addition, replacement of SBM by HP‐DDG enhanced feed intake efficiency and the health status of fish. Haematology and serum biochemistry (haemoglobin (Hb), red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), packed cell volume (PCV %) and humeral immune parameters including total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol, lysozyme activity and total antioxidant capacity significantly increased with increase HP‐DDG inclusion levels. The findings of this study indicated that HP‐DDG is a good complementary protein source for inclusion aquaculture diets and levels above 30% as a replacement of SBM did not compromise growth performance and physiological parameters of sea bass while enhancing some important indices of health status in this species

Partial replacement of dietary soybean meal by high‐protein distiller's dried grains (HPDDG) supplemented with protease enzyme for European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax fingerlings

High‐protein distillers dried grains (HPDDG) is a co‐product of ethanol production that uses prefractionation technology. A 70‐day growth trial was conducted to investigate the effect of partial replacement of dietary soybean meal by high‐protein distiller's dried grains (HPDDG) with protease enzyme supplementation (PROXYM ULTRA®) on growth performance, physiological parameters and histological changes of the intestine of European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax fingerlings. The results indicated that increased dietary HPDDG levels up to 50% of HPDDG supplemented with protease significantly increases growth performance and feed utilization and improved FCR of sea bass. In addition, replacement of SBM by HPDDG supplemented with protease enhanced feed intake efficiency and the health status of fish. Haematology and serum biochemistry (haemoglobin (Hb)), red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and humeral immune parameters including total protein, globulin, cholesterol, lysozyme activity and total antioxidant capacity significantly increased with increase in HPDDG supplemented with protease in the diets. Results of this study indicated that HPDDG supplemented with protease is a good alternative protein source for aquaculture feed and can be included up to 50% as a replacement of SBM without compromising growth performance and physiological parameters of sea bass

Assessment of a high protein distillers dried grain (HP-DDG) augmented with phytase in diets for European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax fingerlings on growth performance, haematological status, immune response and related gut and liver histology

Inclusion of high levels of plant protein ingredients in fish feeds induces the presence of undesirable compounds such as Anti-Nutritional Factors, including non-starch polysaccharides and phytates. The present study evaluated the effect of partial replacement of dietary soybean meal by a high protein distillers dried grains (HP-DDG) a co-product of corn based ethanol production. We evaluated HP-DDG in experimental diets with a supplemented commercial phytase on growth performance, physiological parameters and histological changes of the intestine and liver of European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax fingerlings. The experiment was conducted for six weeks. A total of 240 D. labrax fingerlings was randomly divided to four experimental treatments (each in triplicates groups) and fed to apparent satiation six days per week for a six weeks’ period. Four dietary treatments: containing 0, 30, 40 and 50% HP-DDG supplemented with enzyme phytase 0.5g kg-1 diet respectively, were tested. The results showed that growth performance and feed utilization efficiency of sea bass was significantly higher (P≤0.05) with increasing levels of HP-DDG-and phytase supplementation. Superior phosphorous utilization was also observed with respect to whole body retention for each incremental level of HP-DDG inclusion. Hematology and serum biochemistry (hemoglobin (Hb), red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and humoral immune parameters including total protein, globulin, cholesterol, lysozyme activity and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were improved (P≤0.05) in fish fed diets with increased levels of HP-DDG and supplemented phytase. The findings suggest that the use of HP-DDG supplemented with phytase in sea bass diets enhanced growth, physiological and immunological responses, and evidenced a cost benefit advantage for European sea bass production compared to the use of a diet without either HP-DDG or phytase incorporation

Evaluation of protein enriched co‐products originating from wheat fermentation in diets of common carp Cyprinus carpio to examine effects on growth response, mineral retention, haematological status and intestinal integrity

Six experimental isonitrogenous (380 g kg-1 crude protein) and isolipidic (80 g kg-1) diets were formulated for juvenile carp Cyprinus carpio. The fish meal protein component of a basal diet (control treatment) was effectively replaced by yeast protein concentrate unrefined (YPCU), yeast protein concentrate refined (YPCR), yeast protein concentrate potable alcohol (YPCPA) at 300 g kg-1 of total dietary protein originating from a novel wheat fermentation process. Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) at two levels (150 and 300 g kg-1) of dietary protein were also tested separately. After an 8-week feeding trial, carp fed YPCU30 recorded the highest (p ≤ .05) growth performance and feed efficiency. The apparent net protein utilization of phosphorus, sodium, magnesium and chromium for all diets tested showed significant differences of retention efficiencies. The control fed carp had (p < .05) significantly lower phosphorus and magnesium efficiency than the carp fed other diets. Histological examinations showed the density of microvilli in the region of fish fed YPCU30, YPCPA30, DDGS15 and DDGS30 was decreased compared with the control fed fish with no significant differences were found among the treatments (p ≥ .05). Significant differences in the number of hepatocytes were observed between fish fed YPCR30 or YPCPA30 and DDGS30. Furthermore, no significant (p ≥ .05) differences were obtained in the number of hepatocytes in the fish fed YPCU30 and DDGS15 diets with fish fed the control diet. Hepatic structure showed that the liver of the fish fed the control, YPCU and YPCR diets appeared to be healthy with no signs of pathological change. In conclusion, fermented wheat-derived yeast protein concentrate and distillers dried grains with solubles are promising ingredients in carp diets to reduce feed costs and achieve aquaculture sustainability