Valorization of Sugarcane Vinasse for Fungal Biomass Protein Production: Potential Application as Fish Feed Ingredient

Abstract

The distilleries are among the most polluting industries worldwide since they generate vast amounts of wastewater, mainly vinasse. The environmentally undesirable characteristics of vinasse become a matter of concern, even more if it considered that about 10–15 L of wastewater is generated per each liter of alcohol produced. Hence, the development of new strategies aimed at redirecting the final disposal of vinasse becomes a requirement to ensure the long-term sustainability of distilleries. Over the last few decades, fish farming has rapidly expanded to meet the increasing food demand associated with growing world’s population and with the food crises. However, a public debate over fish farming focuses around its sustainability since various fish species require diets with a high protein content. Historically, fishmeal and soybean meal have been used as fish feed ingredient; however, both products are expensive protein sources. Therefore, the progressive replacement of traditional fish feeds by less expensive protein sources will help to constitute a more predictable market. Filamentous fungi are recognized for their ability to grow on organic waste, providing large quantities of biomass. Particularly, the cultivation of some filamentous fungi can result in a high-quality biomass (high protein levels) that can be used as feed ingredient added to the basal fish diet. Despite attributes of filamentous fungi, the main limitation for use of biomass in fish feed would be associated with the production of mycotoxins by some fungi species, representing an important fish health risk, but also on human health by consuming contaminated fish protein. The present chapter reviews the nutritional properties of fungal biomass produced from different organic byproduct/residues to be used with aquatic purposes. Besides, first advances on nutritional and toxicological aspects of fungus Aspergillus sp. V2 grown on vinasse for use as fish feed ingredient are also reviewed.