FIN NUTRITIONAL PAPER 1 Fishmeal in the diets of pigs Dr Vernon R Fowler (Formerly Rowett Research Institute and Scottish

Agricultural College) Reproduced in Pig Farming, August 1997 Fishmeal is a highly regarded ingredient for use in diets for pigs functioning primarily as a relatively inexpensive source of readily digestible, high quality protein. It is extensively used in pig diets in the UK and accounts for about 20% of total fishmeal usage. One of its greatest assets is that as a protein, it is almost ideally balanced in terms of the ratios of indispensable or 'essential' amino acids. Another important feature is that compared with other sources, it provides a very concentrated supply of dietary protein usually in the range of 60 to 72%.. It is particularly well tolerated in the diets of very young pigs and has a high digestibility. In terms of animal proteins, the main alternatives are dairy by- products, dried skimmed milk and dried whey, both of which are extremely expensive, and dried meat or blood meals, now perceived as a possible health risk and with an image problem. Fishmeal is also regarded as an insurance in pig diets because of the wide range of macro and micro nutrients which it supplies. These include readily available calcium and phosphorus, the whole spectrum of trace elements, many vitamins including vitamins A and D. It supplies too, a number of n-3 (omega-3) essential polyunsaturated fatty acids including eicosopentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) EPA, and docosahexaenoic(22:6n-3) DHA which can be precursors of important metabolic regulators such as the prostaglandins and leukotrienes. My purpose in this paper is to discuss some of the unique features of fishmeal as a dietary supplement for pigs, and show how it can be used economically and successfully to improve the nutritive status of pig diets and in some cases to improve the health and welfare of pigs. Fishmeals as a concentrated source of protein A major advantage of fish meal relative to other protein sources is that it contains weight for weight such a high proportion of protein. Some comparative values of its basic nutritive characteristics are shown in Table 1 where a comparison is made with other animal derived proteins and with vegetable proteins. (Table 1 about here) From Table 1 it can be seen that apart from blood meal, fishmeal is about the most concentrated complete protein. Although at first sight blood meal might appear to be a reasonable alternative, it has the disadvantage of an image problem and is also general regarded as very unpalatable in pig diets especially those formulated for very young pigs. In general, the high protein concentration of fishmeal is regarded as having a particular advantage for formulating protein-rich concentrates for balancing farm-produced cereals.

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 1

For example, in formulating one tonne of pig diet, 100kg of fishmeal substituting for barley will raise the protein concentration in the whole diet by at least 5 percentage units and good herring meal by as much as six percentage units. This compares with skimmed milk where a similar substitution only raises the protein concentration by 2.5 percentage units in the whole diet. Fishmeal as a source of indispensable amino acids The proteins of fish have, in most respects similar biological functions, to those of mammals. This is not surprising since both are vertebrates and not only use muscles for achieving movement, but the contractile proteins of the muscles actin and myosin have a virtually identical amino acid composition and sequence to that in mammalian muscle. The amino acid profile of whole body proteins in pigs is therefore quite similar to that of fish and in addition similar to that of mammalian milk. About ten of the amino acids found in fish proteins are classed as indispensable or 'essential' amino acids for pigs because the pig is incapable of synthesising them by its own metabolic processes from precursor materials. A protein which has proportions of amino acids which exactly match those of the pig is called an 'ideal' protein. Strictly speaking the ideal protein is one which when supplied in the diet of a growing pig maximises the protein retention per unit of dietary protein supplied. The addition or subtraction of any pure essential amino acid from this ideal balance will reduce the efficiency. Proteins from fish are very close indeed to the 'ideal', but proteins from plants deviate considerably from the ideal. By extension of the argument given above, this arises because the function of proteins in plant seeds is very different from that in animals. In plants, seeds elaborate proteins to act as stores for nitrogen during germination and growth, and also may produce specific proteins to discourage insect attack and damage from fungal and bacterial diseases. From the perspective of protein digestion by the animal many of these protective proteins have anti-nutritive properties and can either bind digestive enzymes or bind to the epithelium of the gut wall causing immunological responses and irritation. Some storage proteins in plants appear to have specific sequences of amino acids in the protein chain which can provoke an immune reaction in the immature immune system of the gut of the young pig. It is believed that some of the digestive diarrhoeas or scours of young pigs arises due to this immune (or allergic) reaction. Legume seeds are particularly liable to cause problems in these respects, and this is why soyabean must be accurately heat treated to denature trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinins. Even after heat processing, the product may still not be particularly suitable for baby pigs and it for this reason that expensive further processing involving the precipitation of problem proteins is sometimes undertaken producing an array of soya isolates from the derived fractions. The proteins in cereal seeds, maize, wheat barley etc. are relatively dilute and inadequate for pig feeding both in terms of the protein to energy ratio and also in terms of the

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 2

proportions of the essential amino acids. The balancing of cereal proteins with supplementary proteins and amino acids is a central strategy of diet formulation for pigs. The amino acid composition of fish meal is compared with that of other protein sources and a cereal barley, in Table 2. (Table 2 about here.) The value of fishmeal proteins tends to vary a little with the parts of the fish from which it is derived and on the processing technique. However in virtually all cases the biological value is superior to that of plant derived proteins with the possible exception of expensive high grade soybean isolates combined with supplementary amino acids Protein processing , digestibility and utilisation by pigs In discussing the role of fishmeal in pig diets it cannot be stressed too highly that the value depends on quality control at each stage of the production. High quality fishmeal is an excellent product, but poor quality can be a liability. The drying of fishmeal and the extraction of oil from oilseeds such as soyabean and oilseed rape both involve a measure of heat treatment. Excessive heat treatment may however damage the availability of the protein either by a denaturing process or, as more commonly occurs, by making the critical amino acids less available. This is particularly true of lysine which forms complexes with carbohydrate at high temperatures such as fructose-lysine. This process known as the Maillard reaction causes an inhibition of the activity of the proteolytic enzyme trypsin. Studies by Wiseman, Jaggert, Cole and Haresign (1991) at the University of Nottingham have suggested that even the well recognised measure of useful protein derived from a protein source of 'ileal' digestibility may give misleading predictions of growth, if fishmeal has been excessively heated. Similar caution must be exercised in terms of the freshness of the fish at time of drying and the use or non-use of anti-oxidants early in the processing. Excessive amine production and oxidised oils are potentially very damaging to health and may cause scouring in the first case, and mulberry heart disease and white muscle disease in the second. Fishmeal in the diets of very young pigs and weaned pigs Fishmeal is widely used in the diets of young pigs as a relatively inexpensive source of readily digestible, high quality protein. The amino-acid profile of the proteins of fishmeal is very close to that of the proteins in sow's milk and of piglet body tissue. This means that fishmeal has potentially very high biological value for growth in piglets with a high conversion of diet protein to tissue protein of the gain. The proteins of good fish meal are readily digested by pigs, and from the beginning of the digestion process they are completely exposed to the digestive enzymes. This is because animal cells are protected only by a permeable plasma membrane and the proteins of the cells are readily solubilised by the digestive juices and hydrolysed to their constituent amino acids.

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 3

Proteins from plants are generally much less susceptible to the digestive processes of the pig than are the proteins from fishmeal. In part this arises because in the plant, the protein is enclosed within the plant cell walls which are primarily constructed with hemicellulose and cellulose-like complex carbohydrates. These structures are effectively indigestible in the small intestine of the young pig and the rate of access of the digestive enzymes to the interior of the cell is slowed down. The cell walls can also act as a sponge, delaying the realise of the digested nutrients and slowing down absorption. Even when plant cell walls are partially ruptured by grinding and heat processing, digestion of protein can be delayed, thus giving scope for intestinal bacteria to degrade the amino acids or incorporate them into their own protein structures making them unavailable to the pig. Many proteins contained in plant-derived feeds create difficulties for the digestive system of the young piglet. Some plant protein sources have toxic constituents associated with them such as glucosinolates and tannins in oilseed rape. Even heat processed soyabean may contain residual trypsin inhibitors, and haemagglutinnins or lectins, which are not completely de-natured by the heat treatment. Well-processed fishmeal is remarkably free of anti-nutritive factors and does not contain any significant amount of lectins or trypsin inhibitors. Many experiments have been undertaken over the years showing the benefit of fishmeal as opposed to vegetable protein concentrates in the diets of young pigs. For example the Danish workers Kjeldsen, Danielsen, and Nielsen (1980*) showed that by progressive substitution of soyabean with a mixture of fishmeal and barley to give iso-nitrogenous diets the optimum growth and feed conversion was achieved when fishmeal was 12% of the diet but that the minimum cost of live-weight gain was achieved when fishmeal was 16% of the diet. My own experience over some thirty five years of formulating experimental and commercial diets for young pigs is that fishmeal is very palatable to young pigs provided that it is of good quality and does not exceed fifteen percent of the diet. Fishmeal in the diets of growing pigs and sows. As the pig grows and develops physiologically it is progressively more capable of dealing effectively with proteins of plant origin. However, the addition of fishmeal can still provide certain benefits particularly if health is compromised in any way. First, the inclusion of fishmeal will always improve the amino acid balance in the diet and reduce the total amount of protein in the diet required for optimal growth. This has the advantage of reducing the amount of nitrogenous waste from the pig unit as a whole and this has important implications for reducing environmental pollution both of the atmosphere with ammonia and of water courses with nitrate. In a similar way, the highly available phosphorus in fishmeal can reduce the total dietary phosphorus required in the diet,

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 4

thereby reducing the amount of phosphorus which can cause eutrophication of surface water streams and freshwater lakes. There is also a potential health benefit in that the use of fishmeal reduces the proportion of un-utilised amino acids which must be either de-aminated for excretion through the kidneys or which can become substrates for bacterial activity in the lower part of the gut. Secondly, the inclusion of fishmeal ensures that there is a readily available supply of essential fatty acids particularly the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, discussed in more detail below. Finally the fishmeal acts as an economical insurance against any flaw in the construction of the nutrient balance in the diet. From a biological point of view, fishmeal can be used in any diet for pigs where a protein supplement for cereals is required. There are two reservations. One is that when incorporated at above five percent of the diet within two months of slaughter for meat, there is a slight risk of fishy taint in the fat. For this reason many Quality Assurance Schemes recommend concentrations to below this value at this stage. The other reservation is that at current UK prices, cost effectiveness falls off when the pigs are in excess of 50kg liveweight. Fishmeal and fish oils in maintaining fertility and health There is a widely held view in practice that the addition of fishmeal even in small amounts to pigs diets confers a health benefit and a growth promotional response . To some extent this is undoubtedly due to the topping up of essential micro-nutrients and amino acids which may not have been supplied in the basic formulation. As discussed in the previous section there can also be a benefit from minimising the un-utilised 'wasted' protein associated with poor digestibility and low biological value. The 'spare' proteins and amino acids in the digesta of pigs fed excess or unbalanced protein, may provide additional substrate for pathogens, particularly coliforms, and increase the risk of scours. A case can be also be made for fishmeal having specific properties which enhance health and these are most likely to be associated with the particular fatty acids associated with fish oils in the meal EPA and DHA. These fatty acids are metabolised to a range of substances known to be associated with the proper functioning of the immune system. This is not the place to investigate in depth the metabolic role of these derived substances, e.g. prostaglandins and leucotrienes, but there is are several reports indicating that immune function is enhanced in poultry and pigs by the inclusion of fish oils in diets [Pike (1979), Fritsch, Cassity and Huang (1991) and Fritsche, Huang and Cassity (1993)]. In terms of reproduction, claims have been made that the supply of fish oil in the diets of pregnant sows may increase the stability of the corpora lutea by enhancing anti-luteolytic activity thereby increasing embryo survival. Such claims, although of immense scientific interest have yet to be convincingly demonstrated, but already the evidence is sufficient for farmers, having herds with a fertility problem associated with unexplained poor embryo survival, to consider the use of fishmeal or fish oils in the diets of pregnant sows.

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 5

Conclusion It is clear that the fishmeal is a useful ingredient for inclusion in pig diets especially those of newly weaned and young pigs. It can also contribute to a reduction in pollution of the environment by piggeries, and its specific fatty acids EPA , and DHA can have an important effect on immunity and possible enhancement of embryo survival in sows. References Fritsche, K.L., Cassity, N.A. and Huang, and. (1991), Effect of dietary fat source on antibody production and lymphocyte proliferation in chickens. Poultry Science 70, 611617. Fritsche, K.L., Huang, S.C. and Cassity, N.A., 1993) Enrichment of omega-3 fatty acids in suckling pigs by maternal dietary fish oil supplementation. J. Anim Sci. 71: 1841-1847. Kjeldsen, N.J., Danielsen,V., and Nielsen, H.E. (1980*) . Increasing amounts fish meal in diets of early weaned pigs. Newsletter No 390. Statens Husdyrbrugforsog, Rolighedsveg 25. Copenhagen. Pike, I.H (1979). Unidentified growth factors of fishmeal: Possible nutritional explanations. Feedstuffs 51(14):32-33. of

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 6

Table 1 Comparison of basic nutritive characteristics of various protein concentrates

Crude protein fat g/kg Crude g/kg Energy MJDE/kg g/kg Calcium g/kg Phosphorus

_____________________________________________________________
Fishmeal (herring) White fish meal Skimm -ed milk Low lactose whey Whey Dried Blood 720 100 11.0 55 33

620

40

10.8

75

36

330

11.3

12.5

10.1

170

10

12.1

15

12

120

14.0

8.7

800

10

8.49

2.8

2.2

P:\fishm97b\vf0307a.sam

27 March 1997

Page 7

Table 2 Amino acid composition of fishmeal and other protein sources g/kg Fish Soya Barley Meal bean (42) _____________________________________________________________ Lysine 48 27 5 Methionine 16 6 2 Cystine 5 6 3 Threonine 25 17 4 Tryptophan 6 7 2 Leucine 43 38 8 Iso-leucine 25 28 4 Valine 28 22 6 Phenylalanine 23 21 6 Arginine 35 32 5 Histidine 17 11 2
Reproduced in Pig Farming, August 1997 Contact: FIN, 4 The Forum, Minerva Business Park, Peterborough, Cambs. PE2 6FT Tel: 01733 231133. Fax: 01733 232969