Hydrolyzed feather protein in aqua feed

The main nutritional problems associated with higher utilization of vegetable protein sources are unbalanced amino acid profile, lower digestibility of amino acids, high fiber content, p

As a result of the scarceness of fish meal and higher demand, resulting

in increasing prices, there is a growing interest to replace fish meal with

other protein sources Vegetable protein sources are widely available

but the replacement of fish meal by those vegetable proteins is limited

in some aquatic species The main nutritional problems associated with

higher utilization of vegetable protein sources are unbalanced amino acid

profile, lower digestibility of amino acids, high fiber content, presence of

anti-nutritional factors and low availability of Phosphorus

The low content of phosphorus in hydrolyzed feather meal enables the inclusion of more adequate sources of Phosphorus resulting in a better P digestibility and lower P content in feces and effluent

Hydrolyzed feather meal is a valuable source of proteins and should

be considered as alternative protein source in diets for fish and shrimp

In high protein and energy diets for carnivorous fish and shrimp the high protein content of hydrolyzed feather meal enables a more easy formulation

Composition

Hydrolyzed feather meal is deficient in Methionine, Lysine and Histidine, but it contains a lot of Cystine It is high in water soluble amino acids such as arginine, proline, glycine and aspartic acid

Hydrolyzed feather meal in aqua feed

A high protein alternative for fish meal

Amino acid Hydrolyzed feather meal Rainbow trout Seabream Tilapia Catfish Shrimp

Aspartic acid 6.49

Phenylalanine 4.91

Graphic 1: Replacement of fish meal by hydrolyzed feather meal in diets for Rainbow trout (Oncorynchus mykiss)

(Bureau et al, 2000)

Digestibility

The pH stat method was used to analyze different sources of hydrolyzed feather meal for in vitro digestibility, using the

natural enzymes of Litopenaeus vannamei

shrimp The degree of hydrolysis (DH%) was comparable with widely used vegetable protein sources such as soybean meal and corn gluten

Other sources of hydrolyzed feather meal resulted in a DH% values of 1.5 – 3.0

Sonac products are more digestible

Performance in Rainbow trout

There was no significant differences in the weight gain, TGC, feed efficiency, mortality and carcass composition of the fish fed the diets containing up to 16% hydrolyzed feather meal and those fed the control diet

1 with no hydrolyzed feather meal and 50% fish meal Carcass composition of the fish fed these diets did not differ significantly

75

74

73

72

71

70

69

68

8 12 16 20

Inclusion of hydrolyzed feather meal Weight gain (g/fish) FCR

Sample/origin Crude protein (%) Degree of hydrolysis (DH%) Estimated digestibility (%)

Hydrolyzed feather meal

Hydrolyzed feather meal

Hydrolyzed feather meal

Table 2: In vitro digestibility of hydrolyzed feather meals (Lemos et al, 2007)

Performance in Japanese flounder

Although the amino acid content of diet 2 was similar to diet 1, the inclusion of hydrolyzed feather meal in the diet at 12% did improve growth The results indicate that the inclusion of 12 and 25% hydro-lyzed feather meal as a substitute for fish meal is appropriate A higher inclusion level resulted in slower growth and higher FCR

Performance in Indian major carp

Hasan (1997) evaluated the suitability of poultry-feather meal (PFM)

as a substitute for dietary fishmeal protein in the diet of Indian major carp There were no significant differences among the growth responses of carp fry fed control, 25% PFM and 50% PFM diets The results of the present study indicate that hydrolyzed poultry-feather meal can be used at 20% of the diet level (= 50% of total dietary

protein) for L rohita fry.

Performance in shrimp

Mendoza et al (2000) did not find a difference in growth when fish meal and soybean meal were partly replaced by hydrolyzed feather

meal at an inclusion rate of 13,7% in diets for the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei.

1000

800

600

400

200

0

0 12 25 37 50

% Hydrolyzed feather meal

AA sup no AA

1,8

1,6

1,4

1,2

1

0,8

0,6

0,4

0,2

0

% Hydrolyzed feather meal

AA sup

0 10,4 20,8 39,1 52,1

Graphic 2: Utilization of hydrolyzed feather meal as protein source in diets of juvenile

Japanese Flounder (Kikuchi et al, 1994)

Graphic 3: Hydrolyzed feather meal in diets of Indian major carp (Hassan, 1997)

Hydrolyzed feather meal is a high quality

protein source that can replace fish meal in

diets for different fish species: trout, salmon,

seabream, japanese flounder, catfish, tilapia

and carp Hydrolyzed feather meal can be

used up to 10-15 % of the diets without

loss in growth or feed conversion efficiency

With the rising cost of fish meal, hydrolyzed

feather meal is a valuable alternative,

especially in high protein and energy diets

for carnivorous fish, where vegetable protein sources have limited inclusion possibilities

For optimal results, it is recommended to include up to 10-15% hydrolyzed feather meal in diets for fish and shrimp For shrimp

a higher inclusion rate could be limited

in pelleted feeds to enable a good water stable pellet