A New Feed Ingredient For Trout

In an effort to find protein ingredients to replace fish meal in aquaculture diets, researchers at Purdue University co-extruded soybean meal and red blood cells. The extruded product was included in a rainbow trout diet at 0, 21, 42 or 64 percent of the dietary protein; replacing fishmeal protein. The dietary treatments were fed for eight weeks to triplicate groups of juvenile rainbow trout weighing initially 49.5 gm. There were no significant differences in weight gains, feed conversion, protein efficiency utilization, apparent crude protein digestibility, apparent gross energy digestibility, dress-out percentage, or fillet protein and fat concentrations in fish fed any of the experimental diets. The researchers suggested that extruding soybean meal with red blood cells appear to be a suitable ingredient in diets fed to rainbow trout.

Selden, G.L. and co-workers. 2001. Evaluation of soybean meal-red blood cell co-extruded feed ingredient in diet fed to rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. J. World Aquaculture Soc. 32(4):409-415,