Phileo has announced the launch of Prosaf®, a highly palatable source of small size bioavailable peptides, free amino acids and nucleotides, designed to boost fish growth, performance and disease resistance.
“Working at the crossroads of nutrition and health, we are committed to delivering innovative solutions that enhance farmed fish and shrimp health and performance,” said Otavio Castro, Global Species Manager Aquaculture at Phileo. “This is the context in which we’re delighted to unveil Prosaf®, a truly innovative product that will bring new flexibility to balancing aquaculture diets for optimal performance.
Prosaf® is a water soluble purified yeast extract, obtained by primary fermentation with a high protein content. Officially analyzed by HPLC, Prosaf® has been confirmed as containing only small peptides, more than 88% of which are below 3.6 kDa, with 38% below 1 kDa. As such, the product offers highly bioavailable nutrients to increase the palatability and digestibility of plant-based diets.
Pre-launch studies with shrimp proved that supplementing low-fishmeal diets with Prosaf® results in the same feed intake, growth performance and restored immune status, as comparative diets with three times as much fishmeal content.
Trial one, carried out in Brazil earlier this year, demonstrated that reducing the fishmeal content of shrimp diets from 12% to 3% significantly reduced feed consumption. However, when the same low-fishmeal diet was supplemented with 2% Prosaf®, over a feeding period of 15 days, there was a significant increase in feed intake.
Trial two, carried out with shrimp diets at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand, also earlier this year, demonstrated that supplementing a low-fishmeal diet (5%) with 2.5% Prosaf® improved weight gain significantly. The trial also showed that low-fishmeal diets, supplemented with Prosaf® at 0.5%, 1.5% and 2.5% respectively, delivered weight gain results which were as efficient as those recorded for a high-fishmeal diet (15%). The same trial also included an assessment of the impact of Prosaf® on both low and high-fishmeal diets. When recorded after 62 days of feeding, the specific growth rate of shrimp in a low-fishmeal control group (5%) was lower than the high-fishmeal control group (15%). This negative effect was mitigated, however, by supplementing the low-fishmeal diet with Prosaf® at 2.5%, increasing the specific growth rate of the Prosaf® group by up to 18 points.
There is also trial evidence that Prosaf® strengthens the natural defences of shrimp in comparison to fish which are fed on a non-supplemented low-fishmeal diet. According to the trial carried out at Prince of Songkla University, supplementing a low-fishmeal diet (5%) with 2.5% Prosaf® for 62 days significantly increased the total hemocyte count in whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) hemolymph. It was also observed that phenoloxidase activity was significantly improved in shrimp fed a low-fishmeal diet which was supplemented with Prosaf® (2.5%), compared to the low-fishmeal diet control group (5%).
