Heat-treatment of Soybean Meal-Channel Catfish

Histological effects of feeding heat-treated soybean meal to fingerling channel catfish were studied in a ten-week study. The treatments were: a diet contain 45 percent commercial soybean meal, or diets where the commercial soybean meal was replaced with non-heat-treated (raw) soybean meal, or raw soybean meal heated at 130 degrees C for 5, 10, 20 or 40 minutes. Mild necrotic lesions were found in the gastric glands, pancreas and liver of fish in all treatments. Hepatic glycogen and spleen pigment depositions were also observed across treatments. No abnormalities were seen in the proximal or distal intestine. The researchers indicated that these results suggest that feeding channel catfish a diet containing 45 percent non-heat-treated raw soybean meal would not cause severe histological changes associated with soybean meal anti-nutritional factors as have been reported in salmonids.

Evan, J.J. and co-workers. 2005. No apparent differences in intestinal histology of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) fed heat-treated and non-heat-treated raw soybean meal. Aquaculture Nutr. 11(2): 123-129.