Search Results (7)

The application of cottonseed protein concentrate (CPC) is an effective strategy to moderate the shortage of fish meal (FM) for the aquafeed industry. However, little attention has been paid to the effects of replacing fishmeal with CPC on cyprinid fish. This study used common carp (Cyprinus carpio) as the biological model and assessed the potential of applying CPC as a substitute for fishmeal in the diet of common carp. The proportion of fish meal substituted with CPC in the six diets was 0% (CPC0), 25% (CPC25), 50% (CPC50), 75% (CPC75), and 100% (CPC100). Each diet was fed to three replicate groups of common carp (4.17 ± 0.02 g) for 56 days. Results revealed that the CPC50 group significantly increased the growth indexes via up-regulating the genes of the GH/IGF axis and the TOR pathway. The intestinal digestive ability was also elevated in the CPC50 group via markedly increasing intestinal villus height, protease and lipase activities in the whole intestine, and the amylase activity of the foregut and midgut. The CPC50 group captured significantly higher activities and gene expressions of antioxidant enzymes and lower malonaldehyde contents via evoking the Nrf2/Keap1 signal pathway. The CPC50 group enhance the intestinal mechanical barrier via up-regulating the gene expressions of tight junction proteins and heighten the intestinal biological barrier by increasing the probiotics (Lactococcus) and decreasing the harmful bacteria (Enterococcus). But excessive substitution levels (75% and 100%) would compromise growth performance, intestinal antioxidant capacity, and immune function. The optimum substitution level was estimated to be 46.47%, 47.72%, and 46.43% using broken-line regression analyses based on mass gain rate, protein efficiency ratio, and feed conversion rate. Overall, the fishmeal in common carp feed could be substituted up to 50% by CPC without negative influence on growth, feed utilization, and or intestinal health. Full article

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of concentrated cottonseed protein (CPC) as a substitute for fishmeal (FM) in juvenile hybrid culter (Erythroculter ilishaeformis ♀ × Ancherythroculter nigrocauda ♂). A total of 360 fish with an initial body weight of 10.0 ± 0.5 g were randomly allocated into 12 indoor culture tanks, with each tank containing 30 fish. Four diets were formulated in which fish meal (FM) was replaced by CPC at different inclusion levels: 0% (T0), 15% (T15), 30% (T30), and 45% (T45). The corresponding amounts of CPC included were 0, 61, 122, and 182 g/kg, respectively. At the end of the 10-week feeding trial, the findings revealed an inverse correlation between the proportion of CPC replacing FM and both final body weight (FBW) and weight growth rate (WG) in hybrid culter. Specifically, the T30 and T45 groups exhibited significantly lower FBW and WG compared to the T0 group (p < 0.05). No significant differences in crude protein and ash contents were observed among all groups (p > 0.05). However, the crude lipid content was highest in hybrid culter fed the T45 diet and lowest in the T0 group (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in muscle amino acid composition among all treatment groups (p > 0.05). The contents of total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) declined slightly as the proportion of FM substituted by CPC increased, yet this decline did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity elevated with increasing dietary CPC, and the T45 group exhibited significantly higher ALT activity compared to the T0 group (p < 0.05). The hepatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were significantly lower in the T45 group than in the T0 and T15 groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, there was a decrease in intestinal villi length with an increasing replacement ratio of FM by CPC, and the villi length in the T45 group exhibited a significant reduction when compared to that in the T0 group (p < 0.05). It is concluded that replacing 15% FM with CPC does not exert obviously detrimental effects on growth performance, serum biochemical indices, intestinal morphology, muscle amino acid profile, or antioxidant performance of juvenile hybrid culter. Full article

Cottonseed protein concentrate (CPC) has the function of replacing soybean meal to maintain normal animal growth and development. This study involved 180 Arbor Acres (AA) broilers, which were randomly assigned to three different treatments. Each treatment had six replicates, with each replicate consisting of 10 chicks. The control group was fed a basal diet, while the CPC-1 and CPC-2 groups used CPC to replace 25% and 50% of the soybean meal in the basal diet, respectively. The study showed that replacing soybean meal with 25% CPC in broilers’ diets can maintain normal growth, while substituting 50% of soybean meal with CPC negatively affects the growth and development of broiler chickens. Furthermore, the CPC-1 group showed a significant increase in serum total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase enzyme activity, and immunoglobulin content, along with a decrease in malondialdehyde content. Based on the research results mentioned above, it was speculated that CPC has the potential to replace around 25% of soybean meal in broiler feed without causing any negative impact on growth performance. This suggests that CPC could be a viable alternative to soybean meal in broiler diet. Full article

Cottonseed protein concentrate (CPC) is a new non-food protein source with high crude protein, low price, and abundant resources, making it an ideal substitute for fishmeal. In this study, we investigated the effects of CPC re placing fishmeal on the immune response of Litopenaeus vannamei using transcriptome sequencing. L. vannamei (initial body weight: 0.42 ± 0.01 g) were fed four isonitrogenous and isolipid feeds for eight weeks, with CPC replacing fishmeal at 0% (control, FM), 15% (CPC15), 30% (CPC30), and 45% (CPC45), respectively. At the end of the feeding trial, the changes of the activities and expression of immune-related enzymes were consistent in L. vannamei in the CPC-containing group when compared with the FM group. Among them, the activities of ACP, PO, and LZM in the group whose diet was CPC30 were significantly higher than those in the FM group. Moreover, the activities of AKP, SOD, and CAT were significantly higher in the group containing CPC than in the FM group. Furthermore, all CPC groups had considerably lower MDA levels than the FM group. This suggests that the substitution of fishmeal with CPC leads to a significant immune response in L. vannamei. Compared with the FM group, transcriptome analysis identified 805 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (484 down and 321 up), 694 (266 down and 383 up), and 902 (434 down and 468 up) in CPC15, CPC30, and CPC45, respectively. Among all DEGs, 121 DEGs were shared among different CPC-containing groups compared with the FM group. Most of these differential genes are involved in immune-related signaling pathways. The top 20 signaling pathways enriched for differential genes contained toxoplasmosis, pathogenic Escherichia coli infection, insulin resistance, and Toll and immune deficiency (IMD) pathways, in which NF-kappa-B inhibitor Cactus were involved. In addition, trend analysis comparison of the DEGs shared by the group with CPC in the diet and the FM group showed that Cactus genes were significantly down-regulated in the group with CPC in the diet and were lowest in the CPC30 group. Consistently, the expression of antimicrobial peptide genes was significantly higher in both diet-containing CPC groups than in the FM group. In conclusion, the moderate amount of CPC substituted for fishmeal may improve the immunity of L. vannamei by suppressing the expression of Cactus genes, thereby increasing the expression of antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes. Full article

This study estimated the effect of substituting fishmeal completely with cottonseed protein concentrate (CPC) in the diet of sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii) on growth, digestive physiology, and hepatic gene expression. A control diet containing fishmeal and an experimental diet based on CPC was designed. The study was conducted for 56 days in indoor recirculating aquaculture systems. The results showed that weight gain, feed efficiency, and whole-body essential amino acids (EAAs) all decreased significantly in the experimental group, while whole-body non-essential amino acids (NEAAs) and serum transaminase activity increased (p < 0.05). The activity of digestive enzymes in the mid-intestine was significantly reduced (p < 0.05), and liver histology revealed fatty infiltration of hepatocytes. The hepatic transcriptome revealed an upregulation of genes linked to metabolism, including steroid biosynthesis, pyruvate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, and amino acid biosynthesis. These findings indicate that fully replacing fishmeal with CPC harms A. schrenckii growth and physiology. This study provides valuable data for the development of improved aquafeeds and the use of molecular methods to evaluate the diet performance of sturgeon. Full article

The purpose of this study was to develop the potential of cottonseed protein concentrate (CPC) and Clostridium autoethanogenum protein (CAP) in the diet of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by evaluating the effects of substituting fishmeal with a CPC and CAP mixture on growth performance, nutrient utilization, serum biochemical indices, intestinal and hepatopancreas histology. In a basal diet containing 200 g/kg fishmeal (Con), the mixture of CPC and CAP (1:1) was used to reduce dietary fishmeal to 150, 100, 50 and 0 g/kg, to form five diets with the same crude protein and crude lipid contents (CON, FM-15, FM-10, FM-5 and FM-0). Then, the five diets were fed to rainbow trout (35.00 ± 0.05 g) for 8 weeks. The weight gain (WG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the five groups were 258.72%, 258.82%, 249.90%, 242.89%, 236.57%, and 1.19, 1.20, 1.24, 1.28, 1.31, respectively. FM-5 and FM-0 groups showed significantly lower WG and higher FCR than the CON group (p < 0.05). In terms of whole-body composition, such as moisture, crude ash, and crude protein, no significant difference was observed among all the groups (p > 0.05), except that significantly higher crude lipid content was detected in the FM-0 group than in the CON group (p < 0.05). In the FM-5 and FM-0 groups, protein efficiency, protein retention, intestinal protease activity and amylase activity were significantly lower than in the CON group (p < 0.05). Compared to the CON group, the serum contents of glucose and total cholesterol in the FM-0 group as well as MDA in the FM-5 and FM-0 groups were significantly increased, and catalase, superoxide dismutase, and total antioxidant capacity were decreased (p < 0.05). In intestine and hepatopancreas histology, the intestinal villus height in the FM-5 and FM-0 groups and villus width in the FM-0 group were decreased significantly (p < 0.05), while no significant difference in hepatopancreas morphology was observed among all the groups except that some vacuolization was observed in the FM-0 group (p > 0.05). In summary, the mixture of CPC and CAP can effectively replace 100 g/kg fishmeal in a diet containing 200 g/kg fishmeal without adverse effects on the growth performance, nutrient utilization, serum biochemical, or intestinal and hepatopancreas histology of rainbow trout. Full article

The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritional value of cottonseed protein concentrate (CPC) as a single dietary protein source and the optimal protein level for grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus). An 8-week feeding trial was conducted by feeding juvenile grass carp (initial body weight: 4.68 ± 0.01 g) with six experimental diets containing graded levels of protein provided by CPC. The results showed that the optimal CPC level (CPC4) improved the growth performance and health status of grass carp. The optimal dietary protein level was estimated to be 38.61 and 38.66% based on specific growth rate (SGR) and feed efficiency (FE), respectively. The CPC4 group significantly increased the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) content and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in the hepatopancreas (p < 0.05). In addition, the CPC4 group increased the muscle T-AOC and glutathione (GSH) content and improved muscle hardness, and the gene expression of MRFs, fgf6a, myhc-7, myhc-1, myhc-4, igf-II, and tor was upregulated while mstn gene expression was downregulated (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed that the optimal dietary CPC level promoted grass carp growth, health, and flesh quality by regulating the relative abundance of intestinal microbes. Furthermore, CPC6 upregulated the ko00480 (Glutathione metabolism) and ko00620 (Pyruvate metabolism) pathways compared to CPC1 (p < 0.05), possibly indicating that low dietary CPC levels adversely affected amino acid metabolism in the intestinal microbiota of grass carp, while a high level of CPC will meet the metabolic needs of the body by increasing the utilization of energy. Full article