Taurine: a critical nutrient for future fish feeds

Abstract

Taurine is a sulfonic acid found in high concentrations in animal tissues. In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated the essentiality of dietary taurine for many commercially relevant species, especially marine teleosts. Consequently, the removal of taurine-rich dietary ingredients such as fishmeal may create a deficiency, of which symptoms include reduced growth and survival, increased susceptibility to diseases, and impaired larval development. These symptoms emphasize the systemic role of taurine in the animal's physiology and provide few clues as to the underlying mechanisms of taurine function. In fact, a myriad of roles have been attributed to taurine in mammals, ranging from bile salt conjugation to membrane stabilization, osmoregulation, anti-oxidation, immunomodulation, calcium-signaling, and neuroprotection. This review describes the current knowledge of taurine physiology and metabolism in fish and requirement levels in relevant species, and highlights possible parallels with mammalian taurine metabolism. In addition, the effects of ingredient processing and feed manufacturing on taurine bioavailability are discussed. Finally, regulatory aspects are brought to the forefront: although the supplementation of taurine will be necessary to further reduce the use of ingredients such as fishmeal, taurine is not currently approved by the FDA in the USA for fish feeds.Obtaining approval in the United States to utilize taurine in fish feeds can improve the environmental and economic sustainability of fish feeds nation-wide.

Taurine supplementation in diet for olive flounder at low water temperature

“…According to these studies, the optimum level of taurine supplementation depends on fish species and growth stage of fish. Salze and Davis (2015) have reported that different taurine supplementation levels are needed in different fish species with different growth stages.…”

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“…Thus, even though taurine is a non-essential nutrient, its inclusion in diets is often recommended (Salze & Davis, 2015). In fact, many animal feeds do not contain adequate levels of taurine and, as a result of processing methods, taurine content varies considerably (Rhodes, Rossi, Hanson, & Davis, 2011). Consequently, there is a lack of information on the effect of taurine supplementation on soybean meal based diets and its impact on the growth performance and body composition of red snapper.…”

Development of Fish Hydrolysate (Bind-Add+) incorporated extruded pellets and its performance in Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) feeding trial

“…The role of taurine in fish embryonic and larval development has been reported. Taurine deficiency in fish leads to green liver syndrome (Saize and Davis, 2015). In addition to that, nutrients in FH do not leach due to oils and collagen.…”