AN OVERVIEW OF PROPLEX T IN AQUAFEEDS: A HIGH-QUALITY PROTEIN SOURCE FROM DRIED FERMENTATION BIOMASS

John C. Bowzer*, John F. Less, and Stephanie S. Block
 
 ADM Animal Nutrition
Archer Daniels Midland
Decatur, IL 62521
john.bowzer@adm.com
 

Sustainable and cost effective alternatives to fish meal (FM) as a protein source in aquafeeds continues to be a driving focus in the aquaculture industry. Currently, a variety of traditional products from agricultural and livestock production have provided effective alternatives for partial to full replacement of FM depending on the species and life stage.  In addition to these traditional sources, there is growing interest in a number of manufacturing coproducts such as bacterial dried fermentation biomass (DFB).  In response, ADM research developed a high-quality protein rich DFB product called PROPLEX T from its threonine production stream. PROPLEX T is the coproduct from the industrial production of L-threonine through fermentation using Escherichia coli. Following the fermentation process, crystalline L-threonine is extracted leaving the residual protein-rich biomass.  That biomass is dried and further processed, with the addition of soybean oil, to produce PROPLEX T.

Although research in practical diets of aquatic and terrestrial species have been conducted with PROPLEX T, consolidating the literature into an overview provides a better perspective of its application and value in feeds.  Studies have shown inclusion levels higher than 10% in some species resulted in equivalent growth performance to FM controls, but practical commercial levels will likely be between 2-10% of the formula.   In a trial with Litopenaeus vannamei, feeds formulated with 0, 2, 4, 6, and 12% inclusion levels of PROPLEX T did not compromise growth performance (unpublished data).  In the diets of juvenile red fish, PROPLEX T successfully provided up to 30% of the dietary crude protein (Rosales et al., 2017).  The FM was replaced with PROPLEX-T at 0, 4, 8, and 12% in juvenile Florida pompano diets providing similar growth performance to the controls, and it was suggested that higher inclusion levels should be investigated (Rhodes et al., 2015).  Inclusion of up to 10% in channel catfish diets did not result in any significant decreases in fish performance (unpublished data).   Additionally, a terrestrial study with weanling pigs has shown that PROPLEX T is an excellent source of amino acids and metabolizable energy (Almeida et al., 2014).

Collectively, the research demonstrates the functionality of PROPLEX T as an alternative protein source in a variety of applications. This presentation will provide an overview of the research conducted to determine the practical inclusion levels and discuss its potential in the diets of finfish and shrimp.

References

Almeida, F.N., R.C. Sulabo, and H.H. Stein. 2015. Amino acid digestibility and concentration of digestible and metabolizable energy in a threonine biomass product fed to weanling pigs.  J. of Animal Science. 92:4540-4546.

Rhodes, M.A., Y. Zhou, and D.A. Davis. Use of dried fermented biomass as a fish meal replacement in practical diets of Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus. J. of Applied Aquaculture. 27:29-39.

Rosales, M., S. Castillo, C. Pohlenz, and D.M. Gatlin III. 2017. Evaluation of dried yeast and threonine fermentation biomass as partial fish meal replacements in the diet of red drum Sciaenops ocellatus. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 232:190-197.