Aquaculrural Engineering 3 (1984) 71-89

The Effects of Extrusion and Pelleting of Feed for Trout on the Digestibility of Protein, Amino Acids and Energy and on Feed Conversion Bernhard Vens-Cappell*
Teichwirtschaftlicher Beispielsbetrieb, 8482 W6Uershof. Bavaria, Federal Republic of Germany
ABSTRACT One feeding and two digestion experiments were performed in order to study the effect of feed processing by extrusion and pelleting on feed conversion and on the digestibility o f energy, protein and ambto acMs. Feed conversion was 1.24 when trout was reared on an extruded diet as compared with 1.61 when reared on the same but pelleted diet. The specific growth rates o f 1.56 and 1-55%, respect&ely, attained with both diets, were almost Mentical due to a depression o f voluntary intake o f the extruded diet. The effect o f different daily feed intakes in percentage o f body weight (NI, %) on the digestibility o f energy (D, %) couM be described using the following linear regression equations: D(%) = 78.3 - 5.9 NI(%) for the pelleted diet and D(%) = 87.5 -- 3.9 NI(%) for the extruded diet. Though conversion o f the extruded and pelleted diets differed significantly the digestible energy needed to produce I kg o f gain was nearly ttle same, 17370 k J and 1 7 5 8 0 k J respectively, indicating that differences in conversion were due to the digestible energy content. The digestion coefficients o f the protein and amino acMs were not influenced significantly ( p < 0.05) by a change in the feed process, but different digestion coefficiet'ts for individual amino acids were observed. The use o f digestible carbohydrate for trout nutr#ion is limited by rite incidence o f liver degeneration.

[NT R O D U C T I O N As the t r o u t is a c a r n i v o r o u s animal it has b u t little intestinal amylase activity ( K i t a m i k a d o and T a c h i n o , 1960). T h e r e f o r e , native starch is * Present address: Dorpsfelde 4, D2000 Hamburg 54, Federal Republic of Germany. 71 Aquacultural Engineering 0144-8609/84/$03.00-Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1984. Printed in Great Britain

72

B. Vens-Cappell

poorly utilized by it. The digestibility of native corn, wheat or potato starch is only 20-30% (Inaba et al., 1963; Singh and Nose, 1967; Smith, 1971). These authors demonstrated, however, that the digestibility of starch could be improved by cooking. Bergot and Br~que (1983) demonstrated recently that the digestibility of starch depends on feed processing as well as on feed intake. In their study the digestibility of native corn starch ranged from 38% at high level intake to 55% at low level intake and could be improved by gelatinization to 87% and 90% respectively. Accordingly improved feed utilization of an experimental diet was observed after replacing native with cooked corn starch (Tiews et al., 1972). Up to now the use of gelatinized starch in commercial trout nutrition has been restricted by its relatively high cost. For instance, digestible energy from potato starch is two to three times as expensive as that derived from marine fish oil. Additional criteria have to be taken into consideration when justifying the use of gelatinized starch in commercial feeds for trout. The development of floating water-stable trout feeds has opened additional perspectives for the use of starch containing feedstuffs in trout nutrition. Floating feed pellets are processed by extrusion. The physical and some physiological properties of such an extruded trout feed have been described by Hilton et al. ( 1981 ). From a practical point of view the expected advantages of extruded, water-stable, floating, trout feeds are fewer losses of feed and less leaching of nutrients during feeding, and thus less pollution of water especially under conditions of intensive fish culture. From a strictly physiological point of view the advantage of extrusion processing as compared with the conventional pelleting process is: the higher pressure and temperature during extrusion will result in a better getatinization of the starch which will thus increase the digestibility of the starch by trout. Some negative effects of extrusion also have to be taken into consideration however: 1. The stability of vitamins, especially' that of ascorbic acid, is poorer during extrusion as compared with steam pelleting (Slinger et al., 1979). 2. Due to the higher temperature, humidity and the presence of carbohydrates, Maillard-type reactions could reduce the availability of amino acids and protein utilization as Hilton et al. (198t) assumed. This reaction starts with a condensation of the aldehyde

Comparison o f effects o f extrusion and pelle ring on trout feed

73

group of an aldose with the amino group of an amino acid into a Schiff's base, which is then transformed into an N-substituted 1-amino-l-deoxy-]-ketose. Among the essential amino acids lysine is the one most reactive to this reaction (HeHiaaann, 1966). The present study was carried out in order to compare the nutritional effects of two methods o f fish feed processing, extrusion and pelleting (without steam) on the digestibility of protein, amino acids and energy, and on feed conversion. In addition, the limitations of the use of carbohydrate in trout nutrition, due to physiological, economical and technical exigences, shall be discussed.

METHODS AND MATERIALS Feed preparation The formulation of the experimental diet is given in Table 1. 500 kg of this formulation were mixed. An aliquot of 100 kg was pelleted into pellets 3 mm in diameter using a Heesen press (model V375, production capacity 5 tons h-~). During the pelleting process, which only took about 5 s, the temperature did not rise above 60C. The remaining 400 kg of the mixture were processed by extrusion using an Anderson extruder (condition chamber 8 in diameter, production capacity 1-5 tons h-a). Briefly the extrusion procedure consisted of the following steps: the feed mixture was moved within about 50 s through a cylindrical conditioning chamber. Pressurized steam at 130C under a pressure of 2-3 kp cm -2 was added and the feed material absorbed approximately 20% moisture. The heated mixture was further compressed mechanically to a pressure of 120-130 kp cm -2. It was then ejected through holes 4 mm in diameter and cut into pellets approximately I0 mm long by a rotating knife. The sudden drop in pressure caused expansion of the pellets and inclusion of air bubbles resulted in the floatability of the pellets. Finally the pellets were dried and cooled by ventilation within 40 min. The water content o f the dried pellets was about 7%. As the quantity of the experimental mixture to be extruded was not sufficient to attain a steady state in the extruding process, the process was initiated using corn meal until a constant conditioning temperature and pressure were attained. Then the experimental mixture

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B. Vens-Cappell
TABLE 1

Formulation of the Pelleted and Extruded Experimental Diet

Ingredients
Herring meal 64 a Corn meal ~ Spray dried blood mealc Animal carcass meala Vitamin premix e Trace minerals premix/. Chromium oxide

%
41.6 47.7 4.5 5-0 0.2 0.2 0.8

a64% Crude protein, 12% ether extract, 12% ash. b9% Crude protein, 2.8% ether extract, 1.5% fibre, 73-6% nitrogen free extract. c 85% Crude protein, 90% water soluble. a 50% Crude protein, 12% ether extract. (Proximate analysis of ingredients declared by the producers.) e Rovimix 324 Hoffman-La Roche supplemented with 5 mg folic acid kg-t feed, 300 mg m-inositol kg-1 teed and 500 mg ascorbic acid kg-~ feed. f 2 g Premix (=1 kg feed)contained: 1-6g MgO, 190 mg MnCO3, I00 mg FeSO4, 90 nag ZnCO3, 5 mg KO, 5 nag COC12, 10 mg CuSO4.

was a d d e d . A b o u t 300 kg o f the e x t r u d e d p o r t i o n was rejected at first in o r d e r to avoid a d u l t e r a t i o n by c o r n meal. F o r c o m p a r i s o n , two c o m m e r c i a l l y available feeds were used, which had previously been shown as s u p e r i o r to the others (Vens-Cappell, 1980). T h e i r p r o x i m a t e analysis is given in Table 2. Rearing and e x p e r i m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s T h r e e sets o f e x p e r i m e n t s have been p e r f o r m e d in o r d e r to s t u d y the physiological p r o p e r t i e s o f the e x p e r i m e n t a l diets.

TABLE 2 Proximate A,mlysis ~,nd Feed Conversion of the l'xlruded and Pelleted Experimental Diet and of Two Commercial Feeds
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C~

Experimental diet Extruded

35.3 4-9 10.0 17 510 35.0 4-8 9.9 17 170 47.8 8-8 8-1

Commercial feed K4 7/7 K 50

52.5 7.8 13.0 19 280"
_

Pelleted

~"

Crude protein (%) Lipid (%) Ash (%) Gross energy (kJ kg-~)

Start weight b (g) Final weight b (g) Gain t' (g) Feed ~ (g) Losses (%)
_

J0"~ 9 I 73.64 42.73 53-16

-+ 0.68 -+ 0.27 -+0.79 + 0.8 "~ 1.5 1.61 0.015(ii) 1.55 -+0-0870) 2-49

30-81 72.96 42.15 67-66

-+ 0-56 + 1.94 +- 1.59 + 2.36 1-5

30-57 86-89 56.33 64-75

+- 0-73 + 3-70 +- 3.01 + 2.06 0 1.15 - 0.0181iii ) 1.88 -+ 0-0l (ii) 2.16

30-86 89.86 59.00 66-13

+ 0.60 + _.,.8 1.83 + 0.74 0

" ) 3

~ ~ ~ N 1.I 2 L O-Ol4(iii ) 1.93 -+ 0-01 (ii) 2.17 ~. o~

Feed conversion'" a (feed/gain) Specil'ie growtll rate ' ' a (%) Daily feed intake (% of body weight )

1.240.0050) 1-56 -+0.0130) 1-93

a V,due estimated fro,n a previous experiment (Butz alld Vens-Cappell. 1982). I~ Means of fotlr replicates slandard deviation. c Means of four replicates -+ slandard error. a Means within a line with same subscripts not significanlly different {p < 0.05).
I,,~b

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B. Vens-Cappell

(a) A comparative feeding trial was carried out in order to test the extruded diet against the pelleted one and to test both against the two commercial feeds. 16 tanks, each having a capacity of 180 litres, were each stocked with 50 rainbow trout with an average weight of 30-8g. The tanks were fed with filtered water from a stream at a flow rate of 4 litres min -I per tank. The average water temperature was maintained at 12.5C (+_ 1.5C standard deviation). The mean concentration of oxygen in the tank water was 7.6 mg litre -I (-+0.7 mg litre -t standard deviation). The fish were fed twice daily at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. Feed was offered to satiety, i.e. the feeding was stopped when it t o o k more than 1 0 s for a spoonful of teed to be consumed. To prevent furunkulosis, 70 g of prophylactic feed was prepared with 3 g BelaNifurprazine kg-1 feed and applied to each tank three weeks after initial stocking. Feed conversion (feed/gain), the protein efficiency ratio (PER), and specific growth rate were determined according to the definitions given by Castell and Tiews (1980). After the feeding trial, lasting 56 days, from each group an aliquot of 40 fishes was slaughtered, and the condition factor, liver weight and weight of total viscera determined. (b) In order to determine the digestibility of the experimental diets at a fixed percentage of feed intake two tanks,, each with a volume of 300 litres and a flow rate o f 7 litres min -~, were each stocked with 50 rainbow trout with a mean weight o f 200 g. The extruded and pelleted experimental diets, respectively, were given once a day at 11.00 a.m., at 1.5% of the body weight. After an initial feeding period of 1 week the faeces o f each group were sampled twice on alternate days. For this reason, after feeding, the fishes were transferred into a faeces sampling apparatus (Fig. 1). The apparatus consisted of a cylindrical tank with a volume of 100 litres and a funnel-shaped bottom. A tube was attached to a drain in the b o t t o m which guided a part of the effluent water over a rotating cloth filter from which the faecal material was scraped off and collected. The objective of this faeces sampling method, similar to that described by Bergot (1979a), was to avoid leaching of the faecal pellets by minimizing their contact with water (Vens-Cappell, 1983). (c) Another digestion trial was performed in order to examine the influence o f the different feeding rates, as observed during the comparative feeding trial (a), on the digestibility of energy of the experimental diets. 7 tanks with a volume of 200 litres were stocked each with 70 rainbow trout weighing 90 g on average. The water temperature was

Comparison o f e#ects o f ex trusion and pelleting on rrout feed

77

1-

,
r..~Qw

!"

1o

~ ~ 4

6 7

Fig. 1. Faeces collection apparatus. I, Lid; 2, cylindrical tank, 100 litres; 3, overflow pipe; 4, rotating cloth filter (600 #m mesh size); 5, driving shaft; 6, electric motor; 7, elastic scraper; 8, basin for collecting faeces; 9, stand; 10, afflux.

13C and the flow rate was 5 litres min -1. The extruded and pelleted experimental feeds were fed at different levels of feed intake twice a day at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. with 60% of the total daily ratio Nven at 10.00 a.m. The different feeding rates are listed in Table 3. After an initial feeding period o f four days the fishes of the different groups were subsequently transferred in a randomized order into the faeces collecting apparatus and faeces were collected as described above. All faeces samples were dried in a vacuum drying oven at 75C. The apparent digestibility of protein, energy and amino acids was determined using the chromium oxide indicator method and was calcu-

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B. Vens-Cappell

TABLE 3

Influence of Feed Processing and Feeding Rate on Digestibility

Daily feed Lh'gestibility(%) intake (% of body weight) Protein Energy

Trial (b) 1-50 1.50 Mean: Experimental diet extruded

Daily feed Digestibility (%) intake (% of body weight} Prote#l Energy

83.9 82.8 83-4

81.1 81-5 81-3

1-50

i Trial (c)

1"00
1"39

~ =

84.3
81-6

2.00

80.3

Daily feed "Digestibility {%) intake (% of body weight) Protein Energy

Trial (b)
1.50

1-50 Mean: Experimental diet pelleted 1-50

83-8 82.9 83-4

"70. t

68.3 69.2

Daily feed Digestibility (%) intake (% of body weight) Protein Energy

Triat (c) 0.71 1"00 2"00 2-58 "~ "== = ~ "~

w

73 "8 73'2 66-4 63.3

Comparison o f effects o f extrusion und pelleting on trout feed

79

lated using the formula of Castetl and Tiews (1980): % indicator in feed X % nutrient in faeces Da(%) = 100 1 % indicator in faeces x % nutrient in teed, I

Analytical procedures The protein, fat, ash and moisture contents were determined according to official methods (Naumann and Bassler. 1976). The energy content was measured with a micro-calorimeter according to Roth and Becket (1956). Amino acids in feed and faeces samples were determined after 24 h hydrolysis with 4 N methansulphonic acid in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen at 105C using an amino acid analyser (BioCal 200). Chromium in feed and faeces was determined photometrically after acid digestion (Petty and Rapp, 1970/71) using diphenylcarbacide reagent (Joshida, 1960).

Statistical analysis
The results were subjected, when applicable, to parametric tests as variance analysis. Differences of means were determined at a 5% protection level using Tukey's procedure as described by Weber (1972). Means (xi, -~t) differ significantly if
2i _ ~; > ( S w 2i t h i n / r )
~---

t/5 " q (p, s, f )

with Swithin2 residue variance, r = number of replicates, q = standardized critical width of variation depending on p = protection level, s = number o f treatments and f = degrees of freedom t Pearson and Hartley, 1966). Because o f the inhomogeneity of variances, parametric tests were not applicable for detecting significant differences in relative liver and viscera weights. Therefore, the rank test according to Nemenyi has been applied, as described by Sachs (1974). The differences in rank sums exceeding
D = W[n(nk)" ( n k + 1)/12] v2

where [,V = tabulated values depending on protection level (Pearson and Hartley, 1966), n = number of replicates and k = number of treatments, are significant. The dependence of digestibility on feed intake was described using linear regression equations.

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B. Vens-Cappell

RESULTS Feeding experiment A comparison of the nutritive value of the experimental diets with that of the two commercial feeds is given in Table 2. The best feed conversion (feed/gain = 1-12) was observed feeding the commercial feed K50. The conversion of the other commercial feed K47/7 was 1.15 but was insignificantly (p > 0.05) worse. The commercial feeds were both significantly (p < 0 - 0 5 ) better utilized than the extruded feed (feed/gain = 1-24) and the pelleted feed (feed/gain = 1.61). In spite of the identical nutrient composition of the extruded and pelleted experimental feeds 32% more of the pelleted feed was needed to produce the same gain as that from the extruded feed. The specific growth rates when feeding the experimental diets were 1.56 and 1.55 respectively, approximately 20% lower than those obtained with the commercial feeds K47/7 (1.88) and K50 (1.93). Despite the better feed conversion of the extruded feed as compared to the pelleted one the specific growth rates achieved with both feeds were approximately the same, indicating a reduced intake of the extruded diet, which was 1.93% of body weight daily. The voluntary feed consumption, 2.49% of the body weight daily, was highest when the pelleted diet was fed. The daily intakes of commercial feed, 2- 16 and 2.17% of the body weight daily, were approximately the same.

Digestibility
The determination of digestibility (Table 3) puts the results of the feeding experiments in proper perspective. The values for the digestibility of energy for the two experimental diets differed substantially, while the values for the digestibility of protein (Da = 83.4%) were the same. At a daily feed intake of 1.5% of the body weight, the digestibility of energy for the extruded diet, 81-3%, was 12% higher than that for the pelleted diet (69.2%). The results of the second digestion trial (Table 3) clearly indicate a negative correlation between digestibility of energy and daily feed consumption. To express the influence of daily feed intake in percent of body weight (NI, %) on the digestibility of energy (D, %) the

Comparison o f effects o f extrusion and pelleting on trout feed

81

following linear regression equations can be calculated: D (%) = 78.5 -- 5-9 - NI (%) for the pelleted feed and D (%) = 87-7 -- 3-8 NI (%) for the extruded feed The digestion coefficients of energy determined in the first digestion trial (b) at a constant feed intake of 1.5% of body weight a day fitted well with those values estimated by the regression equations. Therefore it was assumed that the influence of the different experimental conditions in both experiments could be neglected, and the data of both experiments were pooled, thus winning two degrees of freedom. The newly calculated regression equations were almost identical with those calculated for digestion trial (c) alone: D (%) = 78-3-- 5.9 (- 0-5 standard deviation) NI (%) and D (%) = 87.5 -- 3-9 (+- 1-0 standard deviation) x NI (%) During the feeding trial the daily intakes of the extruded and pelleted diets were quite different: i-9% and 2-49% of the body weight, respectively. Using the regression equations, digestion coefficients for this feeding trial of 80.0% and 63.6% can be estimated for the extruded and pelleted feeds, respectively. Thus, it can be calculated, l kg of the extruded diet contained 14010 kJ (3346 kcal) digestible energy, while 1 kg of the pelleted diet contained 10920 kJ (2608 kcal) digestible energy (Table 4). Though the extruded and the pelleted experimental diets had quite different feed conversions, Table 4 shows that the digestible energy values for 1 kg weight gain were almost the same. When trout were reared on the extruded diet 17370 kJ (4149 kcal) digestible energy was expended for 1 kg weight gain as compared with 17 580 kJ (4200 kcal) for pelleted feed. The digestible energy content for the commercial feed K50 had been determined previously (Butz and Vens-Cappell, 1982). Using this value it can be estimated that 17 060 kJ (4076 kcal) digestible energy was expended to produce 1 kg weight gain. The protein efficiency ratio (PER) is a good relative measure of protein utilization as the portion of the weight gain due to protein is more or less constant (Tiews e t al., 1973; Pfeffer and Potthast, 1977). Using this criterion the pelleted experimental diet (PER = 1.78) was as

82

B. Vens-Cappell TABLE 4 Expense of Digestible Energy for Gain and Protein Efficiency Ratio Experimental diet Exrnlded Pelleted 10 920 Commercial feeds K4 7/7 -K50 15 240 a

kJ digestible energy kg feed kJ digestible energy kg gain PER kg gain kg protein intake

14 010

17370

17580

--

17060

2.28(i )

1.78(ii,iii)

1-82(ii)

1.70(iii )

a Value estimated from a previous experiment (Butz and Vens-Cappell, 1982). b Differences between means with same subscripts not significant (p < 0-05). efficient as the commercial feed K47/7 (PER = 1.82) and was significantly (p < 0.05) better than the commercial feed K50 (PER = 1.70), as can be concluded from Table 4. The PER o f 2.28 for the extruded diet was significantly (p < 0.05) better than that of all the other diets. Fish carcass composition The ratio of the weight o f viscera without liver to total body weight, ranging between 7.9 and 8-1%, did not differ significantly (p > 0 . 0 5 ) between the groups fed the experimental and commercial feeds. The ratio o f liver weight to body weight was greatest when the extruded experimental diet was fed (4.5%-+ 1.1% standard deviation). The relative liver weights for the pelleted diet and commercial diets K47/7 and K50 were 1.3% (-+ 0-3% standard deviation), 1.0% ( - 0.2% standard deviation) and 1.3% (+ 0.3% standard deviation), respectively, i.e. were significantly (p < 0.05) less. Content and digestibility of amino acids Values o f amino acid composition and the apparent digestibility of individual amino acids and protein are given in Table 5. Within the range

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83

TABLE 5 Influence Of Extrusion and Pellet Processing on :4a-nino Acid Content and on Digestibility Amino acid Extntded diet Content in diet Digestibility Pelleted diet Content in diet Digestibility

(%2
Asp Thr Ser Glu Pro Gly Ala Cys Val Met tie Leu Tyr Phe Lys His Arg Sum of amino acids Crude protein 3.19 1-45 1-48 4.52 2.06 2-37 2-21 0-33 1.54 1.00 1.05 2.70 0-94 1.38 2-54 1.07 2.03 31-86 35.3

(%)
81.6 83.7 85.4 86.4 86.3 85.7 87-4 86.6 85.6 95-8 83-6 87.9 91-4 86.3 89.7 88.3 88.6 86.7 83.9 DF 16 1 16 MQ 16.74 0.83 2.36

(~2
3-26 1-35 1-47 4.55 2.18 2.24 2-29 0.36 1.56 1-30 1-04 2-57 0.98 1.39 2-71 1.11 2-03 32-39 35.0 F

(Tq
82.8 82.5 85-9 87.7 88-1 83-0 87.6 81.5 87.5 92.6 85.1 88.9 87-6 88.0 89-4 89.0 87-8 87-0 83-8

Cause o f variance Digestibility of amino acids Extrusion/pelleting Residue ***p < 0-001.

7.1"**

84

B. Vens-Cappell

of analytical error the amino acid compositions for the two experimental diets were the same. Two-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences (p < 0-001) for the mean digestion coefficients of individual amino acids, but no difference could be detected between the two modes of processing.

DISCUSSION It has been clearly demonstrated that there is an improvement in digestibility of energy when a feed with high carbohydrate content is processed by extrusion. It is necessary to consider which factor may be responsible for this effect. The extrusion process is not better than pelleting for the digestibility of protein (Table 3). The contribution of fat to total digestible energy in the experimental diets is low whereas the digestibility of fat in general is high (Windell et al., 1974; Austreng et al., 1980); the extruded diet may thus improve the digestibility of energy by partial hydrolysis of carbohydrate. This conclusion is in agreement with earlier observations (Inaba et al., 1963; Cho and Slinger, 1979). Smith (1971) (administering a diet of 50% starch content) observed that starch digestibility was increased from 24 to 51-5% by cooking. Singh and Nose (1967) demonstrated that the digestibility of starch depends on its concentration in the diet. The results of Bergot and Br6que (1983), cited in the introduction, and those results presented in this paper demonstrate that increasing the starch intake results in a depression in its digestibility, and this effect is all the more aggravating if the digestibility of (native) starch is already poor. Spannhof and Plantikow (1983) have recently succeeded in elucidating this phenomenon on physiological and biochemical bases. They have demonstrated that crude starch reduces amylase activity and accelerates the passage of intestinal juice, thus reducing the availability for digestion and absorption. The formulation of least cost commercial feed mixtures requires an exact knowledge of the nutritive value of the ingredients of these feed mixtures. Proximate analysis, digestion coefficients, metabolizable energy and other information about individual feedstuffs are compiled in food value tables (National Research Council, 1973). The digestible energy content of a feed mixture, for instance, can be calculated by adding the contributions to the digestible energy of the individual

Comparison of effects of extrusion and pelleting on trout feed

85

feedstuffs composing the mixture. As discussed above, starch digestibility, however, depends on a number of parameters, such as the origin of starch, its content in feed, feed intake and feed processing. That is why at present it is difficult to predict exactly the digestible ener~mj content of a teed mixture composed of feedstuffs with high starch content using feed value tables. The energy digestion coefficients for starch-containing feedstuffs are only valid for practical feed formulation if they are determined under experimental conditions which are comparable to those to be expected when the very feedstuffs are fed as ingredients of commercial feeds, i.e. the starch content of an experimental diet may not exceed that of a prospective commercial feed and intake of the experimental diet should be of the order to be expected under practical conditions. On account of the dependence of energy digestibility on feed intake, the effects of extrusion and pelleting on the digestibility of energy can only be compared on the basis of equal feed intakes. Using the gross energy content and the coefficients of energy digestibility at a constant feeding level of 1-5% of body weight daily (Table 3) it can be calculated that the gain in digestible energy due to extrusion is 2360 kJ (560 kcal) per kg feed. In order to supply the pelleted feed with the same amount of additional digestible energy, for instance, about 6% marine fish oil would have to be added, assuming 38 kJ (9 kcal) digestible energy per g. An additional cost of 9 Deutschmarks per 100 kg feed would result, assuming a price of 150 Deutschmarks per 100 kg fish oil. The higher cost of extrusion processing, about 5-7 Deutschmarks per 100 kg (Mehler, personal communication), is thus compensated by the higher value of the extruded product. Extrusion and pelleting did not influence the digestibility of protein and amino acids differently. This is an unexpected result since during extrusion some of the factors which are known to enhance Maillard-type reactions were apparently cooperating: humidity, heat and the presence of reducing carbohydrates (Herrmann, 1966). Lysine, arginine and tyrosine, in particular, are reactive to glucose (Mazurke, according to Herrmann, 1966). Therefore a depression in the digestibility of these amino acids could have been expected. The result of the digestion trial (b) gave no indication that heat damage to protein caused by extrusion processing exceeded that caused by pelleting. The fact that there are significant differences between digestion coefficients for individual amino acids is discussed in detail elsewhere (Vens-Cappell, 1983).

86

B. Vens-Cappell

The superior conversion of the extruded as compared with the pelleted feed is evidently due to its higher content of digestible energy. Tiews et al. (1972) reported comparable results after feeding a diet with native and cooked corn starch. By contrast Luquet and Bergot (1976) did not find an improvement in feed conversion but they observed a higher growth rate and higher energy content in body composition. Hilton et al. ( 1981 ) compared the physiological properties of steam pelleted and extruded diets containing 33% starch. The results were comparable with those presented here: feed conversion was better (0-9) when the extruded feed was fed, the pelleted feed having a value o f 1-2, but by contrast trout reared on extruded pellets showed significantly lower weight gain due to a prolonged gastric emptying time and a reduced daily feed consumption. The protein sparing action of energy becomes apparent when the protein efficiency ratios o f the experimental diets (Table 4) are compared. The PER for the extruded feed was about 25% higher than that of the pelleted and commercial diets. With respect to the general shortage and high cost of protein-rich feedstuffs it can be expected that digestible carbohydrate will become more important for trout nutrition in future. On the other hand, it is known that the excessive use of carbohydrates in trout nutrition causes metabolic problems resulting in glycaemie (Bergot, 1979b) and fat and glycogen deposition in liver (Abel et al., 1979; Hille et al., 1980). It is not known to what extent such negative physiological effects o f carbohydrate on trout can be tolerated under practical rearing conditions. It must be assumed that fish with symptoms of liver degeneration will react more sensitively to stress, which to a certain extent is normal in intensive fish culture. It was observed, however, that after the termination of the feeding experiment (a) lasting 56 days livers regenerated within 10 days after changing the diet. With respect to the physiological complications resulting from the excessive intake o f carbohydrate by trout there seem to be some limitations to further development o f floating extruded feeds. As mentioned in the introduction, floatability o f pellets is a decisive argument to justify the higher cost of extrusion. If floatability o f pellets is not desired perhaps it would be cheaper to add extruded corn meal to a feed mixture and then pellet it. From a physiological point of view it would be desirable to limit the content o f digestible carbohydrate to less than 20%, but this would not be consistent with the aim to get

Comparison of effects of extrusion and pelleting on trout feed

87

floatable and water-stable pellets. Perhaps the addition of specific binding agents and other substances facilitating the expansion to a floatable pellet could help to compensate for the higher carbohydrate content required otherwise.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express his gratitude to Prof. Dr H.-J. Horstmann, Institut ffir Physiologische Chemie der Universit/it Erlangen-Nfirnberg, for performing the amino acid analyses; Herr Mehler, Mela-Silver-Cup and Herr Mfiller, lnterquell for supplying the pelleted and extruded diets; Dr Reichle, Fachberatung fiir Fischerei des Bezirks Oberpfalz for material and financial support; and Prof. Dr Rosenthal, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Hamburg for reviewing the manuscript.

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