In vivo and in vitro protein digestibility in juvenile bagrid catfish Mystus nemurus (Cuvier and Valenciennes 1840) fed soybean meal-based diets

Abstract

In vivo and in vitro protein digestibility of 0% to 60% soybean meal protein (SBM) substitution from fishmeal protein was conducted for bagrid catfish Mystus nemurus juveniles. Seven experimental diets containing 35% protein and 15% lipid were fed to bagrid catfish to determine the in vivo protein digestibility. In vitro methods were determined using pH stat, pH shift, spectrophotometric assay and sodium dodecyle sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with different enzyme mixtures (crude intestinal extract of bagrid catfish, Lazo 1-enzyme, Hsu 3-enzyme, Saterlee 4-enzyme). In vivo and in vitro protein digestibility decreased with increased SBM protein substitution with highest tolerance level of 10% (in vivo). pH stat and pH drop methods showed the highest degree of hydrolysis (DH) and relative protein digestibility (RPD) using Saterlee 4-enzyme system. However, pH stat method showed highest correlations (r2 = 0.9263) with the in vivo results using crude intestinal enzyme extract compared to other enzyme systems. The highest correlation of the in vitro methods using crude intestinal enzyme extracts of bagrid catfish was determined using spectrophotometric assay (r2 = 0.9284) followed by pH stat (r2 = 0.9263), SDS-PAGE (r2 = 0.8348) and pH drop (r2 = 0.6777). All the in vitro methods tested are suitable to rapidly determine protein digestibility for bagrid catfish except for pH drop.