Abstract
Costs of compounded diets containing fish meal as a primary protein source can be expected to rise as fish meal prices increase in response to static supply and growing demand. Alternatives to fish meal are needed to reduce production costs in many aquaculture enterprises. Some plant proteins are potential replacements for fish meal because of their amino acid composition, lower cost and wide availability. In this study, we measured utilization of soybean meal (SBM) and soy protein concentrate (SPC) by Florida pompano fed compounded diets, to determine the efficacy of these products as fish meal replacements. We also calculated apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) for canola meal (CM), corn gluten meal (CGM), and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), following typical methods for digestibility trials. Juvenile Florida pompano were fed fish-meal-free diets containing graded levels of SBM and SPC, and weight gain was compared to a control diet that contained SBM, SPC, and fish meal. Fish fed diets that contained 25–30 percent SBM in combination with 43–39 percent SPC had weight gain equivalent to fish fed the control diet with fish meal, while weight gain of fish fed other soy combinations was significantly less than that of the control group. Apparent crude protein digestibility of CGM was significantly higher than that of DDGS but not significantly different from CM. Apparent energy digestibility of DDGS was significantly lower than CGM but significantly higher than CM. Findings suggested that composition of the reference diet used in a digestibility trial affects the values of calculated ADCs, in addition to the chemical and physical attributes of the test ingredient.
Highlights
Aquaculture production of marine finfish is expected to continue to increase to meet the world’s growing demand for seafood
Values determined by analysis. 1Canola meal. 2Corn gluten meal. 3Distillers dried grains with solubles. 4Gross energy. 5Nitrogen-free extract = dry matter2(crude protein+lipid+ash+fiber)
With the exception of the control diet which contained fish meal, no significant differences in weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), Protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed intake (FI), or survival were observed among pompano in the treatment groups that received diets containing both soybean meal (20–35 percent) and soy protein concentrate (36–46 percent) as protein sources (Table 5)
Summary
Aquaculture production of marine finfish is expected to continue to increase to meet the world’s growing demand for seafood. Many types of marine finfish aquaculture use compounded diets that contain high concentrations of protein, which is often provided by fish meal derived from wild fisheries or by animal processing by-products obtained from the commercial fishing and livestock production industries. Fish meal is a finite resource that has steadily increased in price in recent years and will continue to become increasingly expensive relative to other protein supplements in the ingredient market. The reduction, or elimination, of fish meal from compounded diets can be expected to provide economic and environmental benefits by reducing feed costs for fish producers, while lessening fishing pressure on species harvested for fish meal production, many of which serve as important resources in the marine food web
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