Bile is a yellow‐green liquid produced in the liver from cholesterol and stored in the gallbladder of vertebrates. Bile improves the efficacy of lipid digestion by acting as an emulsifier and is essential in activating bile salt lipase, an enzyme that has broad substrate specificity. Bile improves the absorption of lipid soluble nutrients while also facilitating the excretion of cholesterol and toxic metabolites, particularly bilirubin. Dietary fishmeal alternatives often disturb bile acid status in fish resulting in either increased excretion/decreased intestinal reabsorption and/or decreased bile acid synthesis. Saponins and high molecular mass proteins are believed to contribute to altered bile acid status, which may reduce fish productivity. This situation can worsen with increased incorporations of plant‐based proteins in aquafeeds, but also may be mitigated by processing of fishmeal alternatives as well as the dietary inclusion of some bile acids/salts. This area of research will likely increase due to the roles dietary bile acids/salts can have on protecting digestive organs and improving nutrient utilization. This, however, depends on the bile type, level and fish species. This review discusses these aspects in regard to fish nutrition to help increase the inclusion of dietary fishmeal alternatives and thus enhance aquaculture sustainability.

Replacement of fishmeal in feeds is critical for sustainable aquaculture growth. However, replacement with plant protein concentrates reduces fish performance. A rainbow trout strain selected for high performance on a plant protein diet was compared to a non-selected strain to identify physiological mechanisms associated with improved performance. Nutrient digestibility in fishmeal and plant protein diets was assessed and no strain differences were found. Levels of amino acids in the hepatic portal vein and caudal vein were measured at intervals after a single force-feeding of fishmeal, four plant protein concentrates, and a mixture of the concentrates with or without supplementation of three limiting amino acids. Each ingredient affected plasma amino acid levels in a singular manner when fed individually but without predictable additive effects when fed as a mixture. Amino acid supplementation altered uptake and plasma concentrations of all the essential amino acids. the selected trout strain fed the plant protein mixture with amino acids showed a synchronous and homogenous pattern for essential amino acids over time in the hepatic portal vein in contrast to that of the non-selected strain. the results demonstrate that selection favorably altered temporal dynamics of plant protein digestion.

Finding suitable alternative protein sources for diets of carnivorous fish species remains a major concern for sustainable aquaculture. Through genetic selection, we created a strain of rainbow trout that outperforms parental lines in utilizing an all-plant protein diet and does not develop enteritis in the distal intestine, as is typical with salmonids on long-term plant protein-based feeds. By incorporating this strain into functional analyses, we set out to determine which genes are critical to plant protein utilization in the absence of gut inflammation. After a 12-week feeding trial with our selected strain and a control trout strain fed either a fishmeal-based diet or an all-plant protein diet, high-throughput RNA sequencing was completed on both liver and muscle tissues. Differential gene expression analyses, weighted correlation network analyses and further functional characterization were performed. A strain-by-diet design revealed differential expression ranging from a few dozen to over one thousand genes among the various comparisons and tissues. Major gene ontology groups identified between comparisons included those encompassing central, intermediary and foreign molecule metabolism, associated biosynthetic pathways as well as immunity. A systems approach indicated that genes involved in purine metabolism were highly perturbed. Systems analysis among the tissues tested further suggests the interplay between selection for growth, dietary utilization and protein tolerance may also have implications for nonspecific immunity. By combining data from differential gene expression and co-expression networks using selected trout, along with ontology and pathway analyses, a set of 63 candidate genes for plant diet tolerance was found. Risk loci in human inflammatory bowel diseases were also found in our datasets, indicating rainbow trout selected for plant-diet tolerance may have added utility as a potential biomedical model.

No abstract

No abstract