FEATURE

Pea Seed protein

concentrate in
Tilapia feeds
by Josh Cantril, Centre for Sustainable
Aquaculture Research, Swansea
University, Swansea, UK and Ingrid
Lupatsch, Aqua Nutrition Manager, AB
Agri Ltd

eas (Pisum sativum) are one of the

four most important crops next to
soybean, groundnut, and beans. It
is a particularly important legume
in temperate areas with numerous food
(dry seed, vegetable) and feed (seed, fodder)
usages.
Field peas have attracted considerable attention as an animal
feed due to increased production in Europe and Canada and
thus reliable supply and competitive price. Peaseed meal has
been trialed in Atlantic salmon,
Rainbow trout and European sea
bass with encouraging results.
Peas, when unprocessed, contain moderate levels of protein
22-25 percent but also several
anti-nutritional factors (ANF);
however, the levels of ANFs in
peas are low compared with
other legumes and peas did not
induce enteritis in the distal intestine in Atlantic salmon as seen
when feeding soybean meal.
New feed processing technologies have provided more
suitable products for use in high
protein aquafeeds. Pea protein
concentrate (PPC) is produced
by fine grinding dehulled peas
into pea flour, followed by air
processing which separates the
particles based on differences in
size and density. The resulting
concentrate has higher protein
and lower carbohydrate and

ANF contents compared with unprocessed

peas, and thus would be a promising protein
source in aquaculture feeds.
The following study examined the efficacy
and nutritional properties of peaseed protein
concentrate as an alternative feed ingredi-

ent and protein source for all-male tilapia

(Oreochromis niloticus) culture incorporating
growth and digestibility trials.

Fish and rearing conditions

Genetically male Nile tilapia (GMT) were

sourced as fry from Fishgen
Ltd and raised at the Centre
Table 1: Apparent digestibility coefficients (%) of fish meal and pea seed protein as
for Sustainable Aquaculture
determined in tilapia
Research
at
Swansea
Dry matter
Protein
Organic Matter
Energy
University
until
they
reached
%
%
%
%
the
appropriate
sizes
to be
Fish meal*
72.1 0.2
89.5 0.2
82.7 0.3
83.7 0.4
used
in
the
trials.
Fish
were
Pea seed concentrate**
73.2 0.1
88.4 1.8
79.3 2.2
80.3 2.3
cultured indoors as part of a
freshwater recirculation system,
which included mechaniTable 2: Formulation and composition of experimental feeds (per kg as fed)
cal and bio-filtration units, a
Ingredients
Fishmeal
30% PPC
60% PPC
100% PPC
protein skimmer and a sand
Formulation
filter. Water temperature
Fish meal
605
410
210
was kept at 27C and phoPea seed concentrate
165
340
520
toperiod was set at 12 hours
Corn Starch
325
340
320
310
of light daily. Temperature
Vegetable Oil
40
45
50
55
and dissolved oxygen levels
were measured daily, while
Vitamin &Mineral
5
5
5
5
total ammonia nitrogen,
Di-calcium- Phosphate
25
55
nitrite, nitrate and pH were
Calcium carbonate
25
55
measured weekly to assure
Alginate
25
25
25
25
optimum water quality.
Composition

Dry matter, g

927

905

903

910

Ash, g

133

98.7

92.9

88.8

Lipid, g

86.6

85.6

84.9

83.6

Crude Protein, g

393

390

393

397

Gross Energy, MJ

17.90

18.00

18.08

18.32

352

348

349

351

Digestible Energy*, MJ

Digestible Protein*, g

14.79

14.76

14.67

14.82

DP/DE ratio g/MJ

23.8

23.5

23.8

23.7

* Incorporating results from digestibility trial

12 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | September-October 2015

Feed preparation

Feeds were prepared

according to Table 1 by mixing the dry ingredients with a
binder and water, extruded
through a meat grinder and
afterwards dried at 450C for
24 hrs. The resulting pellets
had a diameter of 2.5mm and
3.5mm for growth and digest-

FEATURE
Table 3: Performance parameters of tilapia after 35 days of growth at 27oC (mean SD)
Treatment

Fishmeal

30% PPC

60% PPC

100% PPC

Initial weight (g)

32.2 1.0

32.5 0.6

32.7 1.2

33.4 0.6

Final weight (g)

97.8 2.2

105.7 1.0

100.9 4.1

65.7 3.2

Weight gain g/fish/day

1.88 0.03

2.09 0.01

1.95 0.08

0.92 0.07

Feed intake g/fish/day

2.06 0.05

2.23 0.12

2.09 0.06

1.07 0.02

FCR

1.10 0.05

1.06 0.06

1.07 0.02

1.16 0.08

97 4

100 0

97 4

82 8

Survival (%)

Table 4: Composition of tilapia per g live weight (mean SD)

Initial

Fishmeal

30% PPC

60% PPC

100% PPC
247 0.2

Dry Matter, mg

230

248 0.7

274 0.4

266 1.2

Crude Protein, mg

127

139 0.4

150 4.0

149 12.1

133 2.1

Lipid, mg

43.1

65.3 4.0

80.9 1.0

77.0 1.0

63.7 0.4

Ash, mg

59.2

43.6 2.4

43.2 0.8

40.1 1.1

50.4 0.8

Gross Energy, kJ

4.52

5.59 0.18

6.63 0.24

6.37 0.37

5.29 0.0

ibility trial respectively and were stable up to

24 hours in water.

Sample preparation and

chemical analyses

At the start of the growth trial samples

of about 10 fish were taken and at the end
10 fish from each tank were sacrificed and
blended to create homogenous samples. Subsamples for estimation of dry matter were
taken before the remaining homogenate was

oven-dried. The dried samples were once

more mixed in a blender before all remaining
analyses.
Identical analyses were applied for diets,
faecal matter and body homogenates. Crude
protein was measured using the Kjeldahl technique and multiplying N by 6.25. Ash was calculated from the weight loss after incineration
of the samples for 12h at 5500C in a muffle
furnace. Gross energy content was measured
by combustion in a Parr bomb calorimeter

using benzoic acid as the standard. Chromic

oxide was estimated by wet digestion.
Feed and faeces containing Cr2O3 were
digested in a mixture of perchloric acid, concentrated sulphuric acid and Na-molybdate.
The resulting dichromate was determined at
360 nm against Cr2O7 standard solutions.

Digestibility trial

Digestibility of the pea seed protein concentrate was assessed by adding chromic
oxide, an 0.8 percent inclusion, as the indigestible marker to the feed and collecting the
faecal matter by siphoning. By assessing the
ratio of marker to energy or nutrient in the
feed compared to their ratio in faecal matter,
digestibility of the nutrients can be established.
Fishmeal was used as the reference ingredient
and the test diet was mixed at a ratio of 50
percent fishmeal and 50 percent pea seed
protein. Fifteen tilapia, weighing on average
400g, were stocked in 300L tanks to supply
two replicates per treatment. Faecal matter
from a given tank was pooled over the trial
period until sufficient material was collected
for subsequent analyses. Digestibility of ingredients were calculated using well established
equations and are presented in Table 1.

Growth trial

Four experimental diets were formulated

Complete Plants and Machines

for the Production of Fish Feed

Contrary to conventional extruders, the KAHL extruder OEE is equipped

with a hydraulically adjustable die.

AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG Dieselstrasse 5-9 D-21465 Reinbek / Hamburg Phone: +49 40 727 71 0
info@akahl.de

www.akahl.de

September-October 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 13

FEATURE

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retention
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to contain 40 percent protein
Table 5 : Energy and protein retention efficiency (mean SD) in tilapia fed pea seed meal at
(Table 5).
and nine percent lipid and
increasing inclusion levels.
The reduced weight
to gradually include pea seed

Fishmeal
30% PPC
60% PPC
100% PPC
gain was thought to be
concentrate at the expense of
Digestible Energy intake
30.5 0.8
32.9 1.7
30.7 0.9
15.9 0.2
correlated with reduced
fishmeal (Table 2). Seventeen
(kJ / fish /day)
feed intake in fish fed the
tilapia of 35g initial size were
Energy gained
11.5 0.3
15.8 0.6
14.1 1.7
5.6 0.3
100 percent pea seed
stocked in 150L tanks provid(kJ / fish /day)
feed as indicated in Table
ing two replicates per treatDigestible Energy
37.7 0.0
47.2 0.7
46.0 4.2
35.4 1.5
3.
ment. The trial lasted 35 days
retention efficiency (%)
and fish were fed manually
Digestible Protein intake
0.73 0.02
0.77 0.04
0.73 0.02
0.38 0.01
(g / fish /day)
to apparent satiation up to 4
Conclusions
times daily. Any uneaten pelTilapia performed on
Protein gained
0.27 0.00
0.34 0.01
0.31 0.05
0.13 0.01
(g / fish /day)
lets were collected at the end
feeds with pea seed proDigestible Protein
37.5 1.5
43.4 1.0
42.7 5.4
34.4 1.0
of the day and accounted for.
tein of up to 35 percent
retention efficiency (%)
Thus feed intake was
dietary inclusion very
quantified and evaluated in
well. At this level - equivrelation to growth response.
alent to 65 percent of
pea seed diet compared to the other three
Through comparative body composition feeds. Survival was also slightly reduced fishmeal protein replacement - performance
of fish carcass the relationship between (Table 3).
of tilapia was equivalent to fish when fed
dietary protein and energy intake and proDespite the poorer growth performance, the all fishmeal feed.
tein and energy deposition was assessed, results in Table 3 indicate that FCR was not
The reduced growth of tilapia fed the 100
which allowed estimation of the utilisation different among the treatments (Table 3). percent pea seed feed was mainly due to
efficiency of the feeds.
Furthermore a trend can be inferred that fish decreased feed intake and palatability might
performance improved with the inclusion have been an issue. No significant differences
of the pea seed concentrate. This differ- were found with regards to FCR, energy and
Results and Discussion
Comparison of growth performance ence was not proven to be significant, but protein retention efficiency values. This fact
among fish showed no difference when nevertheless higher weight gain, improved supports the notion that whichever proPPC supplied up to 60 percent of the FCR (Table 3) and increased energy content tein source the fish consumed they utilised
protein in the diet. But growth obviously (Table 4) can be described which ultimately equally well.
References available on request
deteriorated in tilapia fed the 100 percent resulted in improved energy and protein

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