Final Report Summary - FISHPROG (Breaking frontiers for the use of plant-derived feeds in fish farming through nutritional programming of fish larvae)
World aquaculture currently relies on fish meal as main feedstuff in aquafeeds. Since world production of fishmeal is not expected to increase and its excessive use produces detrimental effects on both fish and the environment, scientists and producers have been advocated for increasing the use of plant proteins, especially from soybean, in aquafeeds. Groundbreaking researches over the last decade, including those supported by the EU (RAFOA, PEPPA, AQUAMAX, ARRAINA), have indeed resulted in a decrease of fishmeal in fish feeds, but most cultured carnivorous fish in Europe are still largely fed fishmeal. The attaining of high level of soybean in diets for some carnivorous fish is still problematic due to resultant intestinal disorders such as inflammation, and other harmful effect on fish overall physiology.
The project FishPROG, supported by EU through a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship, addressed this problem by testing if fish, well adapted to dietary animal proteins, can be programmed by early diet to better use vegetal protein in later life. Very recent researches have demonstrated that some aspect of fish biology would be programmed by early feeding, but in most cases the affected processes and underline mechanisms remains elusive. The project was initially focused on the carnivorous marine fish Sparus aurata, one of the most cultured fish in the Mediterranean region and in Europe, but latter complemented with additional experimentation in zebrafish as a model fish. FishPROG study identified the fish digestive processes that would be mostly affected in later life by early soybean feeding, and provided insight on at least one potential mechanism involved. For doing this, groups of fish experienced diets containing soybean feedstuffs at first feeding and then were grown in the absence of soy. Later, several indicators of digestion, nutrient absorption, and intestinal health were measured in late larvae in the absence of soy (in seabream) and in case of soy re-feeding at juvenile stages (in zebrafish). During the project it was found that fish juveniles that shortly experienced soy at first feeding were less responsive to re-feeding with soy trough inflammation, and had apparently higher protein and fat utilization. The general conclusion of FishPROG was that some important functional properties of fish intestine, such as inflammation and nutrient absorption, can be fashioned by early nutrition. Also, by demonstrating that these effects of early soy feeding of fish larvae occurred along with some modifications of DNA and associated regulatory proteins, the project provided preliminary information for more in-deep studies on mechanisms for nutritional programming in fish.
The project results have practical implications as demonstrate that it is worthy to explore this new approach to further advance toward more sustainable aquafeeds. Observations of this project should be confirmed in juvenile S. aurata and other cultured fish for which soybean inclusion in diet has been challenging. However, fish is a very diverse group of animals and differences are expected in the effectiveness of the early manipulation depending on the biology of the different species, the time of exposure to the early dietary stimulus, and the onset, amplitude and duration of the early response. Thus, results from FishPROG encourage future interdisciplinary collaboration among different European research groups in testing its major findings in important fish species for European aquaculture.
Contact details:
Scientist in charge:
Dr. Manuel Yúfera
Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
Puerto Real, 11510
Cadiz, España.
Tel: +34 956 832612 ext. 334
E-mail: manuel.yufera@icman.csic.es
Internet sites: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manuel_Yufera
http://www.icman.csic.es/departamentos.biologia.marina.acuicultura.php
Marie-Curie Fellow:
Dr. Erick Perera
Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
Puerto Real, 11510
Cadiz, España
Tel: +34 956 832612 ext. 334
E-mail: erick.perera@icman.csic.es; erickpbcim@yahoo.es
Internet sites: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erick_Perera
The project FishPROG, supported by EU through a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship, addressed this problem by testing if fish, well adapted to dietary animal proteins, can be programmed by early diet to better use vegetal protein in later life. Very recent researches have demonstrated that some aspect of fish biology would be programmed by early feeding, but in most cases the affected processes and underline mechanisms remains elusive. The project was initially focused on the carnivorous marine fish Sparus aurata, one of the most cultured fish in the Mediterranean region and in Europe, but latter complemented with additional experimentation in zebrafish as a model fish. FishPROG study identified the fish digestive processes that would be mostly affected in later life by early soybean feeding, and provided insight on at least one potential mechanism involved. For doing this, groups of fish experienced diets containing soybean feedstuffs at first feeding and then were grown in the absence of soy. Later, several indicators of digestion, nutrient absorption, and intestinal health were measured in late larvae in the absence of soy (in seabream) and in case of soy re-feeding at juvenile stages (in zebrafish). During the project it was found that fish juveniles that shortly experienced soy at first feeding were less responsive to re-feeding with soy trough inflammation, and had apparently higher protein and fat utilization. The general conclusion of FishPROG was that some important functional properties of fish intestine, such as inflammation and nutrient absorption, can be fashioned by early nutrition. Also, by demonstrating that these effects of early soy feeding of fish larvae occurred along with some modifications of DNA and associated regulatory proteins, the project provided preliminary information for more in-deep studies on mechanisms for nutritional programming in fish.
The project results have practical implications as demonstrate that it is worthy to explore this new approach to further advance toward more sustainable aquafeeds. Observations of this project should be confirmed in juvenile S. aurata and other cultured fish for which soybean inclusion in diet has been challenging. However, fish is a very diverse group of animals and differences are expected in the effectiveness of the early manipulation depending on the biology of the different species, the time of exposure to the early dietary stimulus, and the onset, amplitude and duration of the early response. Thus, results from FishPROG encourage future interdisciplinary collaboration among different European research groups in testing its major findings in important fish species for European aquaculture.
Contact details:
Scientist in charge:
Dr. Manuel Yúfera
Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
Puerto Real, 11510
Cadiz, España.
Tel: +34 956 832612 ext. 334
E-mail: manuel.yufera@icman.csic.es
Internet sites: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manuel_Yufera
http://www.icman.csic.es/departamentos.biologia.marina.acuicultura.php
Marie-Curie Fellow:
Dr. Erick Perera
Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
Puerto Real, 11510
Cadiz, España
Tel: +34 956 832612 ext. 334
E-mail: erick.perera@icman.csic.es; erickpbcim@yahoo.es
Internet sites: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erick_Perera