ASSESSING THE USE OF FERMENTED SOY PROTEIN IN SOY BASED FEED FORMULATIONS ON THE HAEMATOLOGICAL, HISTOLOGICAL, GROWTH, SERUM, AND NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF FLORIDA POMPANO Trachinotus carolinus

This study aims to evaluate the effect of replacing commodity soybean meal (CP 46.72) with fermented soybean meal (CP 52.87) ingredient with peptides, direct-fed microbials, and metabolites on the growth performance, feed utilization, amino acid profile, hematology, histology, and serum biochemical parameters including enzymes, i.e. alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glucose, cholesterol, albumin, bile acids and total protein of Florida pompano. Four isonitrogenous and isocaloric diet were formulated to contain 15% Poultry by-product meal and commodity soybean meal (PBM), 50% replacement of soybean meal with PepSoyGen (PSG) as the fermented soy (50%PSG), 75% PSG and 100% PSG. The experimental diets were fed in triplicate groups of 20 Florida pompano (mean initial weight 17 g) per tank arranged in a completely randomized design for 8 weeks at the Claude Peteet Mariculture Center, Gulf Shores, Alabama, USA. At the end of feeding trial, no significant differences were found in growth performance and feed utilization. However, hematocrit levels (%) in the fish fed with fermented soy were higher than fish fed with basal diet. Fish fed with basal diet showed an elevation in glucose and bile acids level but low level of ALT and AST ratio activities. An increase in ALP activity was also noticed in fish fed with 50% and 100% fermented soy compared to the basal diet. These results suggest that the fermentation process of soybean meal does not impair growth performance in Florida pompano. Histology and proximate analysis of fish are being determined to evaluate liver integrity and nutrient utilization.