Porcine Protein Hydrolysates (PEPTEIVA®) Promote Growth and Enhance Systemic Immunity in Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata)

Abstract

The effects of porcine plasma protein hydrolysate (PPH) on growth, feed efficiency, and immune responses was evaluated in Sparus aurata. Fish were fed two isoproteic (48% protein), isolipidic (17% fat), and isoenergetic diets (21.7 MJ/kg) diets, one of them containing 5% PPH at the expense of fishmeal. Both diets were tested for 92 days. A significant increase in growth was observed in fish fed the PPH diet in comparison to the control group (182.2 ± 4.4 vs. 173.8 ± 4.1 g), as well as an increase in feed intake without worsening FCR values. An ex vivo assay, with splenocytes incubated with lipopolysaccharide, was conducted to evaluate the cellular immune competence of fish. Genes involved in humoral immunity (lys, IgM), pro- (tnf-α, il-1β), and anti-inflammatory (tgf-β1, il10) cytokines were upregulated in the PPH group in comparison to the control group. The inclusion of PPH in diets enhanced the antibacterial capacity of skin mucus, as the co-culture of selected bacteria (E. coli, V. anguillarum, and P. anguilliseptica) with skin mucus indicated. The present results showed that the PPH in low fishmeal diets (2%) promoted growth and feed efficiency, as well as enhancing the immune response, which indicates that this is a safe and functional ingredient for aquafeeds.

Evaluating the Functional Properties of Spray-Dried Porcine Plasma in Gilthead Seabream (Sparus aurata) Fed Low Fish Meal Diets

“…In fish, the most abundant immunoglobulin in plasma and skin mucus is IgM [ 37 ] that plays an important function in systemic humoral immune responses [ 38 ]. The increased igM expression levels in splenocytes from animals fed the SDPP diet at 4-, 12- and 24-h post-incubation (hpi) in LPS may indicate that the SDPP diet improves the IgM expression compared to the control diet, as it has been previously shown by several studies testing functional feeds [ 14 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Moreover, the ex vivo assays showed an up-regulation of il-1β at 24 hpi in splenocytes exposed to LPS from fish fed the SDPP diet.…”

“…As it has been previously stated, functional feeds are commonly used to modulate the immune and stress responses; however, predicting functional response is very difficult due to complex interactions between dietary ingredients [ 33 ]. Although there are benefits of SDPP in terms of growth, feed efficiency and host’s immunity in diets formulated with high levels of FM (46%) [ 13 , 15 , 18 ], there is not information on whether low FM diets (2%), such as those tested in the current study and in our previous studies [ 14 ], would behave similarly to full FM ones. Thus, in this study, the authors aimed to evaluate the potential immunomodulatory effect of SDPP inclusion in diets with very low levels of FM (2%) by means of an ex vivo assay.…”

“…In livestock production, SDP is considered a promising functional ingredient as an alternative to the use of antibiotics, due to growth and immunity promotion, as well as reducing both morbidity and mortality [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Regarding aquatic species, several studies have reported that spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) enhances growth in rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) [ 12 ], gilthead sea bream ( Sparus aurata ) [ 13 , 14 , 15 ], and Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) [ 16 ]. Different authors have postulated that these results might be explained by the higher digestibility of SDPP, the improvement of feed efficiency and feed intake, as well as its content in growth factors.…”

Alternative Proteins for Fish Diets: Implications beyond Growth

“…In addition, the expression of SOD and CAT in the splenocyte primary cell cultures exposed to a bacteria stimulation was not affected. The dietary inclusion of blood hydrolysates [221] in gilthead seabream did not affect the content of lipidic oxidative damage but reduced the activity of some endogenous antioxidant defences (CAT, GR, and GST). This reduction might be attributed to the presence of bioactive peptides, usually present in animals' hydrolysates, that can modulate the levels of other antioxidants, maintaining the redox allostasis.…”

“…Most of the reports have been conducted with the dietary inclusion of hydrolysates from animals' by-products. An inclusion of porcine plasma (5%) and blood hydrolysate (3%) in gilthead seabream diets was shown to promote growth performance; however, a not so clear effect was observed in the oxidative status [137,221]. In fact, the supplementation of plasma hydrolysates [137] did not seem to alter the overall antioxidant capacity of the skin mucus of gilthead seabream.…”