Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

THE ADDITION OF PREBIOTICS AND A FERMENTED SOYBEAN MEAL MAY IMPROVE THE GROWTH AND HEALTH OF LARGEMOUTH BASS Micropterus salmoides WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A PALATANT TO IMPROVE DIET ACCEPTANCE

 

Michele Jones* and Rebecca Lochmann

1200 University Ave

Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71603

thompsonm@uapb.edu

 



 Developing a Largemouth bass diet that is sustainable and acceptable to the fish is an ongoing process.  Fish meal reduction accompanied by increased plant protein sources such as soybean meal in diets can present challenges such as increased anti-nutritional factors  (ANFs) and reduced palatability.  Soybean meal  (dehulled, solvent-extracted, 48% protein)  is a high-quality plant protein source with a  fairly balanced amino acid profile.  However, diets with high levels of this meal are not always accepted by fish, which reduces feed intake and growth. The addition of a prebiotic and/ or fermented soybean meal  with an improved nutrient profile and reduced ANFs  can improve digestion, absorption, and health factors. Prebiotics and fermented soy can both improve gut microflora, gene expression, and immune function. The addition of a palatant can increase the acceptability of soy diets to the fish. For this study we developed diets with soybean meal, fermented soybean meal, soybean+prebiotic, fermented soy+prebiotic, soybean+palatant, fermented soy+palatant, soybean+palatant+prebiotic, and fermented soy+palatant+prebiotic .  The fish are being fed twice a day to apparent satiation for 8 weeks. Four -week results are shown in Table 1.  At harvest, we will collect tissues for gene expression, microflora analysis, digestive enzyme activity, and proximate analysis.