A recent study conducted by Biomin found that Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE supplementation improves the performance of white leg shrimp in low fishmeal diets.
Replacing fishmeal with alternatives such as vegetable proteins can negatively affect production performance, as plant raw materials are less digestible and can cause negative effects directly on the gastrointestinal tract. Due to their ability to improve feed efficiency at comparatively low cost, phytogenic feed additives (PFAs) are an important addition to aquafeeds made with vegetable proteins. Derived from plants, PFAs are functional feed additives used to improve animal performance.
Biomin conducted a trial to evaluate the nutrient sparing effect of a commercially available PFA (Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE) in Pacific white shrimp feed. The trial evaluated the effect of the PFA on growth performance, feed utilization and gut intestine ultrastructure. Five diets were formulated for the experiment, and three levels of fishmeal were used; the control diet contained the highest level at 25.0% (FM25). The fishmeal level was then reduced to 22.0% (FM22) and 19.0% (FM19) by substitution with soybean meal and peanut meal. Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE was supplemented to the diets with reduced fishmeal content at a dosage of 200 g/ton of feed.
The results of the trial indicate important improvements in measured parameters when using Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE. Weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion rate and protein efficiency ratio were all improved (P<0.05) for the shrimp fed low fishmeal diets supplemented with the PFA when compared to those that did not receive the PFA.
The replacement of fishmeal by plant proteins had a negative influence on feed conversion ratio (FCR), which worsened as the level of fishmeal in the diets got lower. However, when the low fishmeal diets were supplemented with Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE there was an improvement in FCR values compared with non-supplemented diets. The growth performance and feed utilization of shrimp fed the experimental diets with lower fishmeal levels was numerically worse than other treatments. Of the diets with reduced fishmeal, those supplemented with Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE numerically improved shrimp specific growth rate and FCR
