September | October 2012 Gustor Aqua and Ecobiol Aqua: enhancing digestion in a different mannerInternational Aquafeed is published five times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom. All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. ©Copyright 2012 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1464-0058 The International magazine for the aquaculture feed industry FEATURE Gustor Aqua and Ecobiol Aqua: enhancing digestion in a different manner by Waldo G. Nuez-Ortín (DVM, MSc) and Jorge Zarate Domínguez (Eng), Norel S.A, Spain he digestive system of fish and shrimp is sensitive and responsive to a number of stressing factors that frequently occur and are cause of disease and poor performance. In order to lessen the negative impacts of those and achieve sustainable, safe, and cost-efficient aquaculture production, nutritionists must focus not only on nutritional specifications but also on promoting digestive health. In such task, probiotics and organic acid salts have aroused as natural solutions that result in improved health status, nutrient utilization, and consequently performance. T In both industrialised and developing countries, nutrition plays a critical role in the sustained development of aquaculture, thus particular emphasis is being placed on nutritional strategies and their effect on health, performance, and environmental integrity. While a first nutritional approach is the increasingly accessible information on nutrient requirements as well as on the more effective use of alternative and available ingredients, a second approach is supplementation with natural growth promoters (NGPs). NGPs not only provide benefits in terms of health and performance but also do not bear any risk regarding bacterial resistance or undesired residues in the edible product. It is more and more common by nutritionists to include NGPs as organic acid salts or probiotics in the aquafeed formula. In the aim of optimising health and growth, both are characterized by the resultant enhancement of nutrient utilization, which is in turn achieved by different mechanisms of action. Gustor Aqua- an organic acid salt Gustor Aqua contains sodium butyrate, which has been proposed as candidate replacement for antibiotics. Although the consistency of the effects on performance achieved by antibiotics is difficult to emulate, sodium butyrate provides antimicrobial activity besides other key benefits that go beyond of those provided by antibiotics, such as enhanced development of intestinal epithelium and intestinal barrier integrity as well as anti-inflammatory properties. Once in the gastrointestinal tract, sodium butyrate dissociates into butyric, which is strongly lipophilic and capable to diffuse across the membrane of gram negative bacteria (Gálfi and Bokori 1990), leading to a disruption of the metabolic processes and the consequent bacterial death. The subsequent reduction in the butyric acid intolerant microorganisms contributes to a diminished risk of subclinical infections and nutrient demand by the gut-associated immune system, resulting in enhanced health status, less nutrient competition, and consequently better efficiency in terms of nutrient utilisation. The stimulatory effect of butyrate on intestinal epithelium development has been demonstrated in both in vivo and in vitro conditions, table 1: effect of dietary supplementation of GUStor aqua on performance parameters of catfish (P. hypohthalmus) Initial weight (g) Control GUStor aqua 6.90a 6.75a Weight gain (g) 37.56a 50.68b SGr (% day) 3.34a 4.32b FCr 1.65a 1.32b Per 1.34a 1.81b Gustor Aqua dosed at 0.5 kg/ton feed Means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different (P<0.05) SGR: Specific growth rate / FCR: Feed conversion ratio / PER: Protein efficiency ratio table 2: effect of dietary supplementation of GUStor aqua (protected) on digestibility and performance parameters of shrimp (P. monodon) DMd (%) Control 64.90a CPd (%) 85.20a ed (%) 78.10a 83.26b Weigh gain Survival (%) (g) 13.67 4.01 90 93 FCr 3.43 3.29 89.11b GUStor aqua 72.46a Gustor Aqua dosed at 1 kg/ton feed Means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different (P<0.05) DMd: Dry matter digestibility / CPd: Crude protein digestibility / Ed: energy digestibility / FCR: Feed conversion ratio Coefficients of digestibility were determined by the use of chromic oxide as an inert marker 14 | InternatIOnal AquAFeed | September-October 2012 FEATURE elucidating greater epithelial cell proliferation of commercial feed. This solution is attribwith the administration of sodium butyrate uted to the anti-inflammatory properties when compared to other salts as sodium of sodium butyrate, whose mode of action acetate and sodium propionate (Sakata and is by modification of transcription factors (NF-kB) that control the expression of Tamata 1978a, 1979; Sakata 1987). In a study conducted in broilers, dietary inflammatory response genes (Hamer et supplementation of 0.05% sodium butyrate al. 2008, Le Gall et al. 2009). The result is (92%) significantly increased the length a healthy absorptive surface area ensuring (+35.5%) and width (+ 55.7%) of villi at 21 and 42 days, respectively (Mallo et al. 2011). As a result of improved villi development, absorptive surface area is enlarged, leading to better feed utilisation and enhanced animal health status and performance. Gustor Aqua has also gained interest due to increasing use of plant-based diets. Several investigations have reported soya-induced enteritis in salmonids (Baeverfjord and Krogdahl 1996; Knudsen et al. Figure 1. Biomass of L. vannamei after Ecobiol Aqua supplementation 2008; Krogdahl et al. 2003) and common carp (Urán et al. 2008). This observation has led specialists to not include more than 5-15 percent optimal absorption of important nutrients of soya in salmon diets in order to prevent as water, minerals or fatty acids. In a experiment conducted with catfish enteritis. When coping with this situation, sodium (Pangasius hypohthalmus), a diet was supplebutyrate arises as a tool to prevent the mented with 0.5 Kg Gustor Aqua/ton of feed development of soya-induced enteritis and and fed twice daily during 56 days. Results allow for a more convenient formulation (Table 1) showed significant improvements in weight gain (+35%), specific growth rate (SGR) (+30%), feed conversion ratio (FCR) (-16%) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) (+35%) relative to the non-supplemented diet. In a second experiment with shrimp (Penaeus monodon), a diet was supplemented with 1 kg of Gustor Aqua/ton of feed and fed during two months. As shown in Table 2, the supplementation of sodium butyrate significantly enhanced digestibility of dry matter (DMd) (+12%), crude protein (CPd) (+5%) and energy (Ed) (+7%), leading to numerical improvements in weight gain, survival and FCR. In both experiments, the observed positive results can be attributed to the abovementioned modes of action described for sodium butyrate. Ecobiol Aqua- a probiotic Ecobiol Aqua contains spores of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. This sporulated form gathers the essential and favourable properties for a potential probiont listed by several authors (Farzanfar, 2006; Gómez and Balcazar, 2008; Merrifield et al. 2010; Vine et al. 2006). 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This inhibitory activity promotes optimal gut flora balance, which in turn results in less nutrient competition, enhanced disease resistance, healthier absorptive surface area, and consequently better nutrient utilization. It is also known that probiotic bacteria can release extracellular enzymes that help in the digestion process. This ability was investigated in a recent study, in which a total of 96 shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) with an average weight of 0.85 g were placed in 12 aquariums and fed to satiety with two different treatments (6 replicates/ treatment); 1) unaltered commercial shrimp feed (35% CP), and 2) comFigure 2. Lipase (a), protease (b), and amylase mercial shrimp containing (c) activity in hepatopancreas of L. vannamei Ecobiol Aqua at 2 kg/ ton feed. Final biomass rearing temperature, antagonistic properties was calculated as the sum of the indiagainst key pathogens, and capacity to pro- vidual weights of animals allocated in duce extracellular enzymes that improve feed each treatment. As shown in Figure 1, the difference in final biomass was numeriutilisation. It is the combination of different modes cally higher until day 40, however, this of action what leads to host benefit when difference became significant after day Ecobiol aqua is supplemented. B. amylolique- 50. As the experiment was conducted faciens is capable to secrete lactic acid and in controlled conditions with absence of barnase. While the former will reduce patho- pathogens, the most likely explanation genic bacteria and will be used by beneficial for this improvement can be found in the bacteria such as Lactobacillus as substrate to extracellular enzyme secretion capacity grow, the later is a potent bacteriocine. As a of the vegetative form of Bacillus amyresult, the antimicrobial properties of Ecobiol loliquefaciens. In order to investigate on Aqua have been demonstrated against patho- this assumption, a total of 6 shrimp per treatment with an average weight of 6 g were selected and fasted for 12 hours. Hepatopancreas were excised and the activity of lipase, protease, and amylase "Nutritionists must pay special focus not only to nutritional specifications but also to maximise nutrient utilisation" was analysed according to Hernández (1993), Versaw and Coupett (1989) and Vega-Villsante et al. (1999), respectively. Results (Figure 2) showed increased enzymatic activity in hepatopancreas after feed intake, suggesting enhanced digestibility and consequently better final biomass. Secretion of amylases, cellulases and xylanases has also been reported for Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (Cortyl, 2010). Conclusion Nutritionists must pay special focus not only to nutritional specifications but also to maximise nutrient utilisation. It is therefore that supplementation with NGPs such as organic acid salts or probiotics has aroused as a natural alternative to develop a successful nutritional program. By different modes of action, supplementation of both Gustor Aqua and Ecobiol Aqua will lead to the enhanced gut efficiency to digest feed. Factors such as targeted species, methodology for use, or processing conditions, will determine the inclusion of one or the other, or their combination, in the aquafeed formula. ■ References Available upon request Extruder OEE for the Production of Fish Feed AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG, Dieselstrasse 5-9, D-21465 Reinbek / Hamburg, Phone: +49 40 727 71 0, Fax: +49 40 727 71 100
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