According to projections by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the global fish supply is anticipated to reach 201 million tonnes by 2030. Aquaculture is expected to play a crucial role in this growth, with production forecasted to hit 109 million tonnes, marking a 36% increase from the 80 million tonnes produced in 2016. However, this rise in aquaculture production brings with it a significant challenge: reliance on fishmeal as a key ingredient in feed formulations.
As demand for fishmeal continues to outpace supply, the price has skyrocketed. Back in 1983, the average price hovered around $400 per tonne, but recent years have seen it climb to an astonishing $1,600 per tonne. To put this into perspective, soybean meal, which has also seen an increase in price over the same period, has only risen eight times less. Moreover, the availability of high-quality fishmeal, which is derived from whole fish and boasts lower ash content, is dwindling. This decline stems from reduced catches in capture fisheries, which in turn limits the amount of fishmeal available for aquaculture. Additionally, using this raw material is considered unsustainable in the medium to long term.
As we transition from wild-caught fish to farmed fish, it becomes essential to ensure that farmed fish receive all the necessary nutrients in their feed. Intensive farming practices further emphasize this need, as they rely less on natural feeding sources. The quality of feed ingredients and the methods used in feed processing directly impact fish productivity.
Different Processes for Producing Ingredients and Their Characteristics
To better understand the differences between various ingredient processing techniques, let's examine three common methods: thermal processing or cooking, chemical hydrolysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis. Thermal processing involves subjecting raw materials to high temperatures in a digester. While this method is straightforward and cost-effective, it can degrade proteins, reducing the digestibility and availability of amino acids. Research shows that the longer the raw material is exposed to high temperatures, the poorer the digestibility and nutritional value become.
Chemical hydrolysis comes in two forms: acid and alkaline. This process subjects raw materials to extreme pH changes. Both types are relatively inexpensive but come with drawbacks. Acid hydrolysis is often employed to enhance flavor, yet it partially destroys certain amino acids, like tryptophan. Alkaline hydrolysis proves even more damaging to amino acids and increases the ash content of the final product due to the introduction of additional components during processing.
Figure 1. Peptide bond enzymatic hydrolysis scheme.
Enzymatic hydrolysis, conducted under low temperature and pressure, avoids any loss of amino acids and enhances protein digestibility and amino acid availability. Enzymes offer precision in controlling the degree of peptide-bond hydrolysis, ensuring consistency in the final product. Additionally, this process uses less energy and steam compared to traditional cooking methods.
Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Bioactive Peptides
To delve deeper into how enzymatic hydrolysis produces high-quality ingredients with functional benefits, we must explore some foundational concepts. A protein is a macromolecule typically composed of 20 different amino acids linked via peptide bonds. When a protein has a low molecular mass and fewer amino acids, it is referred to as a peptide. Importantly, peptides can exhibit various bioactivities, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihypertensive, and immunomodulatory properties.
These are known as bioactive peptides, defined as specific amino acid sequences with low molecular mass and a distinct biological activity within the organism. One way to generate bioactive peptides is through enzymatic hydrolysis of intact proteins. The term "hydrolysis" refers to breaking down molecules using water.
Enzymatic hydrolysis is a chemical reaction sped up by enzymes that use water to split one molecule into two Others. In the case of proteins, this process breaks them down into smaller chains of amino acids (peptides). These smaller peptides are easier for animals to absorb than whole proteins, requiring less energy for digestion. This saved energy can be redirected towards growth, weight gain, and combating health challenges.
The efficiency of protein digestion depends on several factors, including the animal's age and the protein's form (small peptide, free amino acid, or intact protein). Mature animals generally absorb nutrients more effectively than younger ones, meaning hydrolyzed proteins are more readily absorbed than intact proteins. Beyond improving in vivo protein absorption, enzymatic hydrolysis also generates bioactive peptides.
Extensive research is involved in determining the optimal enzymes and processing conditions for specific raw materials to achieve desired bioactivities. The type of enzyme used influences the resulting peptide's amino acid sequence and its associated bioactivity. Different raw materials produce unique peptides with specific bioactivities, such as immunomodulatory and antimicrobial effects. These identified bioactive peptides hold potential for future exploration in animal nutrition, offering a wide range of applications for protein hydrolysates.
Protein Hydrolysates as Functional Ingredients
There is a clear correlation between ingredient processing methods and their nutritional value, impacting animal performance. Recognizing this, BRF Ingredients has developed a novel approach to processing ingredients using enzymatic hydrolysis, yielding superior results in animal performance.
Figure 2. Molecular mass distribution of BRFi hydrolysate product.
Following enzymatic hydrolysis, nearly all solids are removed through filtration, reducing the final ash content to approximately 4% and concentrating the protein content to over 75%, with a digestibility exceeding 90%. The stability of these parameters is another hallmark of the process. Furthermore, careful enzyme selection and processing conditions ensure that most of the protein content exists as small peptides with a molecular mass below 3 kDa, a range considered to possess greater bioactivity.
Beyond the inherent advantages of the process and the qualities of the final ingredients, BRF's full integration enables reliable traceability and freshness of the raw materials used. This ensures consistent quality throughout the supply chain.
Impact on Animal Performance
In in vivo trials with tilapia, the protein digestibility reached 93.61%. Adding 2.5% chicken protein hydrolysate to tilapia feed during the initial stages boosted the final weight by 23% compared to the control group, which included 10% fishmeal. The experiments also revealed a gut health-promoting effect with a 3% inclusion of protein hydrolysate, increasing villi count by 49% relative to the fishmeal control group.
In adult tilapia, incorporating 2.7% protein hydrolysate into their diet enhanced fillet yield by 6% compared to the fishmeal control group. Plasma lipid profile analysis indicated that the inclusion of protein hydrolysate led to decreased triglyceride and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) levels while significantly increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Plasma lipid profile of tilapia fed with diets containing different levels of inclusion of protein hydrolysate ingredient(experiment performed at the Western Paraná State University-Unioeste, Brazil).
This outcome suggests the presence of anti-adipogenic bioactive peptides, improving energy metabolism and promoting rational nutrient utilization for protein deposition. In Vietnam, a study demonstrated that 2% protein hydrolysate could replace 5% fishmeal without compromising growth performance. Besides the functional benefits, switching to protein hydrolysate offers ingredient stability, predictable pricing, and quality assurance, with negligible impact on formulation costs.
For shrimp feed, enzymatic hydrolysate ingredients achieved a 94% digestibility coefficient for protein. Growth experiments revealed that adding 5% hydrolyzed protein to the formulation increased final weight by 7% and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 14.3% compared to the salmon meal control group.
Figure 4. Cumulative mortality of Litopenaeus vannamei fed with diets containing different levels of hydrolysate protein after 48h post-infection (h.p.i) with Vibrio parahaemolyticus at the concentration of 9 x 107 CFU/mL (experiment performed at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil (UFSC).
In a challenge test assessing shrimp resistance to intentional Vibrio infection, all treatments containing protein hydrolysate ingredients exhibited a 20%-50% reduction in cumulative mortality compared to the control group with only fishmeal (Figure 4). This underscores the immunomodulatory and/or antimicrobial effects of bioactive peptides.
In aquaculture, the scarcity of critical ingredients can spur innovation, fostering smarter alternatives that add value to the industry. While much remains unknown about hydrolysate proteins and bioactive peptides, numerous studies highlight their benefits across medicine, cosmetics, human nutrition, and animal nutrition.
Specifically in animal nutrition, applying peptide products and hydrolyzed proteins in various species' diets has demonstrated improvements in intestinal health, immune systems, growth, and production performance. In today's competitive market, these advantages cannot be overlooked. As the world evolves, so too must the ingredients sector. Embracing new technologies and innovative processes allows us to harness their benefits, contributing to a more efficient and productive industry.
Authors: ThaÃs Costa Andrade, R&D Specialist, and Wilson Rogério Boscolo, R&D Consultant, at BRF Ingredients Brazil.
Toughening agent refers to the material that can increase the flexibility of adhesive film. Some thermosetting resin adhesives, such as epoxy resin, phenolic resin and unsaturated polyester resin adhesives, have low elongation and high brittleness after curing. When the adhesive parts bear external forces, they are easy to crack and rapidly expand, resulting in cracking of the adhesive layer, fatigue resistance, and can not be used for structural bonding. Therefore, we must try to reduce brittleness, increase toughness, improve the bearing strength. Any material that can reduce brittleness and increase toughness without affecting other major properties of the adhesive is a toughening agent. It can be divided into rubber toughening agent and thermoplastic elastomer toughening agent.
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