The efficacy of hydrolized feathermeal as a protein source in diets for juvenile catfish Ictalurus punctatus.

Chicken feather meal is often viewed as an undesirable product, as most people think of ground up feathers, which have many processing and nutritional issues. However, modern feather meals are produced through a hydrolysis process which greatly improves protein digestibility. Given the poor understanding of the quality of these meals, we chose to evaluate the efficacy of hydrolyzed feather meal (HFM) as a protein source in channel catfish feeds. For this work, we investigated the replacement of either poultry-by-product meal (PBM) or soybean meal (SBM) in a practical feed formulation for juvenile catfish. The basal diet contained 6% PBM and 56.5% SBM. For the first series of diets, we incrementally replaced PBM with 2.5% and 5% hydrolyzed feather meal (HFM). The second series included five experimental diets with SBM replaced by HFM at a rate of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, and 15%. Diets were formulated to be iso‑nitrogenous and essential amino acids were supplemented to maintain minimal levels that met the nutritional requirements. Catfish were stocked at 15 fish per aquaria using four replicates per treatment and grown for 78 days. The survival of the catfish was above 85% across all treatments with no significant differences found due to diet. Apart from one diet, the inclusion of HFM did not influence the growth or FCR of the fish. Diet 3, which contained 5% HFM as a complete replacement for PBM had significantly lower growth and FCR than the other treatments. These results indicate that up to 20% HFM can be used in catfish feeds a as long as there is a low level of another animal protein. However, the complete replacement of PM with HFM was not successful. • HFM can successfully SBM at rates up to 15% without compromising fish growth performance. • Apart from one diet, the inclusion of HFM did not influence the growth or FCR of the fish. • Up to 20% HFM can be used in catfish feeds a as long as there is a low level of another animal protein. • Complete replacement of PM with HFM was not successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]