IMPROVING SOY BASED FEED FORMULATIONS FOR THE FLORIDA POMPANO Trachinotus carolinus USING NOVEL SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE.

The future of aquaculture that is both sustainable and economically favorable is dependent upon the increased inclusion of plant protein sources. Florida Pompano perform well on soy-based diets when nutrient deficiencies are met through supplementation. However, the problem of antinutrients in soy-based diets persists and limits the value of soy and other plant protein sources. Methods such as selective breeding and improvements in processing are means to reduce the antinutritional factors in plant protein sources. NutriVance is a novel soy protein concentrate which is produced through a unique proprietary process combining non-alcohol extraction and enzymatic treatment of soybean meal. To evaluate the potential of this alternative soy protein, an 11-week growth trial was conducted in a recirculating system at the Claude Peteet Mariculture Center, Gulf Shores, Alabama, USA, which consisted of 12 tanks. Twenty pompano juveniles (mean initial weight 8.2g) were stocked in each tank. Fish were fed four times daily one of four, randomly assigned diets. All diets were produced at Auburn University, Auburn, AL. The basal diet used 15% Poultry by-product meal (PBM) and commodity soybean meal (CSM) which was replaced by the Nutrivance soy (NV) at 50% and 100%NV, while PBM was removed from the fourth diet (Table 1). The inclusion of 100NV significantly improved growth, however the complete removal of PBM significantly lowered survival and growth (Table 2). Digestibility values are being determined.