Lipolytic Effect of Staphylococcus warneri for Obtaining High-Quality Fishmeal from Fish Waste Fermentation.

Introduction: The fishing industry has one of the largest influences on economic development in the Colombian Pacific region. Fishmeal is a product of this industry; however, the shelf-life of fishmeal is limited by its lipid content. This study aimed to transform fish waste through fermentation to obtain fishmeal with high digestibility and a low lipid content as a usable product in animal nutrition. Methods: The bacteria, Pediococcus acidilactici (C20) and Staphylococcus warneri (BL24), of the lactic acid and lipolytic groups, respectively, were selected as fermentative microorganisms. Four treatments were established (T1: control (endogenous bacteria), T2: inoculum with C20, T3: inoculum with BL24, and T4: mixed inoculum (BL24/C20)), and fermentation lasted 4 days. The temperature was maintained at 35 °C under the relative humidity of the city of Cali. The fermentation kinetics were evaluated by analyzing the pH, fat content, protein content, and substrate consumption. At the end of fermentation, treatments had significant differences (p < 0.05) with T3 and T4 where reduced the lipid content by 25.26% and 31.77% respectively. Results: Fishmeal with T3 treatment had high protein digestibility, lower peroxide value and a good amino acid profile; therefore, fermentation with lipolytic bacteria can reduce the fat content of fishmeal. Conclusion: The results obtained in this research demonstrate that fermentation process it can be a very useful tool to improve the nutritional quality of fish products which are used as a protein source in feed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]