Replacement of fish meal by plant protein sources in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diet: growth performance and utilization

The nutritional suitability and cost effectiveness of rice polish and mustard oil cake as protein sources in the diet of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were studied. This study introduced rice polish as a plant protein source for Nile tilapia and three diets were formulated using rice polish (0, 10 and 20%) and mustard oil cake (10.0, 17.6 and 22.0%) for a feeding trial of eight weeks to observe the growth performance and feed utilization. The result was indicated that growth performance tended to decrease with increase in inclusion level of rice polish and mustard oil cake. The control diet (FM35) recorded the highest body weight gain (BWG) (363.79±59.32%) and the least (330.24±32.32%) was in diet FM25. Specific growth rate (SGR) was followed the same trend and no significant differences of SGR was observed among the diets (P>0.05). Feed intake (FI) of different diets was ranged between 30.33 g and 35.08 g per fish at the end of this experiment. Feed intake was also declined with the increase in inclusion level of rice polish, though the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were not significantly different (P>0.05) among the diets. The results of this study revealed that partial replacement of fish meal by rice polish and mustard oil cake would be cost effective without any significant change in growth performance

An approach to converting raw animal waste to fish feed formulation: a case study for sustainable industrial waste management using acid silage methods

590-595Acid silage is a convenient method for converting raw poultry wastes (i.e., chicken offal) to fish feed ingredients. To investigate the potentiality of chicken offal for fish feed formulation; combination of two acids were used in the trail (90-days). The proximate compositions of raw offal contained 37.22 % moisture, 37.24 % protein, 18.80 % fat,19.04 % ash and 62.78 % dry matter; ensiled offal contained 25.02 % moisture, 47.31 % protein, 13.79 % fat, 13.45 % ash and 74.98 % dry matter; and post storage offal contained 23.05 % moisture, 44.33 % protein, 13.10 % fat, 12.75 % ash and 76.95 % dry matter. It took 13 days to convert raw offal into final product that was confirmed by physical observation in necked eyes (i.e., raw smell converted into pungent acidic; thick solid form liquefied; raw pink color converted to bright brownish and absence of microorganisms). No significant difference was observed during trail and storage period for all components as moisture, protein, fat, ash and dry matter. The pH value was found to be stable at 1.90 in 90-days storage period. These results suggest that chicken offal could be potentially used for aqua feed formulation that would be a cost effective means for industrial waste management

Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Nsp3 macrodomain structure with insights from human poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG) structures with inhibitors.

Arrival of the novel SARS-CoV-2 has launched a worldwide effort to identify both pre-approved and novel therapeutics targeting the viral proteome, highlighting the urgent need for efficient drug discovery strategies. Even with effective vaccines, infection is possible, and at-risk populations would benefit from effective drug compounds that reduce the lethality and lasting damage of COVID-19 infection. The CoV-2 MacroD-like macrodomain (Mac1) is implicated in viral pathogenicity by disrupting host innate immunity through its mono (ADP-ribosyl) hydrolase activity, making it a prime target for antiviral therapy. We therefore solved the structure of CoV-2 Mac1 from non-structural protein 3 (Nsp3) and applied structural and sequence-based genetic tracing, including newly determined A. pompejana MacroD2 and GDAP2 amino acid sequences, to compare and contrast CoV-2 Mac1 with the functionally related human DNA-damage signaling factor poly (ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG). Previously, identified targetable features of the PARG active site allowed us to develop a pharmacologically useful PARG inhibitor (PARGi). Here, we developed a focused chemical library and determined 6 novel PARGi X-ray crystal structures for comparative analysis. We applied this knowledge to discovery of CoV-2 Mac1 inhibitors by combining computation and structural analysis to identify PARGi fragments with potential to bind the distal-ribose and adenosyl pockets of the CoV-2 Mac1 active site. Scaffold development of these PARGi fragments has yielded two novel compounds, PARG-345 and PARG-329, that crystallize within the Mac1 active site, providing critical structure-activity data and a pathway for inhibitor optimization. The reported structural findings demonstrate ways to harness our PARGi synthesis and characterization pipeline to develop CoV-2 Mac1 inhibitors targeting the ADP-ribose active site. Together, these structural and computational analyses reveal a path for accelerating development of antiviral therapeutics from pre-existing drug optimization pipelines