Processing and evaluation of nutritive value of fish silage for feeding Omani sheep

Abstract

This study evaluated the potential of preparing fish silage (FS) as a low-cost, protein-rich supplement for livestock feeding in Oman from ground Indian oil sardines (Sardinella longiceps) using organic and inorganic acids. It was co-dried with wheat bran before being mixed with other feed ingredients and pelleted for feeding Omani sheep. Forty Omani sheep were offered one of five diets aiming to gradually replace soybean meal (SBM) with FS. The proportions of FS in the diet were 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 g/kg, whereas the parallel SBM levels ranged from 17% to 0%. Animals were fed 500 g/d of the concentrates and allowed ad libitum access to Rhodes grass hay. A digestibility experiment was carried out on 12 sheep fed 0, 100 and 200 g/kg FS. The fresh FS dry matter (DM) was 393 g/kg and it contained 510 g/kg crude protein (CP), 220 g/kg ether extract (EE), 153 g/kg ash, 34 g/kg calcium (Ca) and 31 g/kg phosphorus on DM basis. The 75:25 silage: wheat bran mixture contained 883 g/kg DM and 390, 139, 120, 17, 17 g/kg DM CP, EE, ash, Ca and phosphorus, respectively. The FS amino acid contents were comparable to that of the SBM. No ill health signs were observed on experimental animals. There were no differences (P > 0.05) in digestibility coefficients of CP, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre between the 0, 100 and 200 g/kg FS diets. However, the 200 g/kg silage diet had lower (P < 0.001) DM, ash, Ca, P and energy digestibility coefficients. The study indicated that FS can successfully be made under Omani conditions and may be used as an excellent protein source for feeding sheep.

Comparative Study of Fish Silage Prepared from Fish Market Waste by Using Different Techniques

“…Today, silage technology is most useful for solving the waste problem from industry and fish market. Fish silage would be a good potential source for animals in arid regions as it contained high protein (Al-Abri et al, 2014;Pagarkar et al, 2006;Palekar, 2009). In all three methods of fish silage production (mineral acid, organic acid and biological method), the optimum amount of sulphuric acid, formic acid and molasses were determined 3.5%, 3.5% and 15% respectively.…”

“…This is obtain by action of the naturally occurring enzymes presence in the whole fish, fish minced or fish offal. The enzymes, mainly from the digestive organ, break down protein into smaller soluble unit and the acid helps to speed up their enzyme activity while preventing bacterial spoilage (Al-Abri et al, 2014).…”

<b>Digestibility and physico-chemical characteristics of acid silage meal made of pirarucu waste in diets for commercial laying hens

“…In general, the liquefaction rate is dependent on the type of raw material, its freshness, enzymatic activity, physiological state of the fish and other factors (Al-Abri et al, 2014). In the present study, the formation of liquid was somewhat accentuated due to the structure of the wastes that were not ground and only fragmented, the time the material passed through the silage process also contributed with this factor.…”

Effect of some Engineering Factors on The Fish Silage Making تأثیر بعض العوامل الهندسیة على تصنیع سیلاج الأسماک

“…Fish silage is defined as a liquid product produced from the whole fish or parts of it, to which acids, enzymes or lactic acid-producing bacteria are added, with the liquefaction of the mass provoked by the action of enzymes from the fish (FAO, 2007). The enzymes, mainly from the digestive organ, break down protein into smaller soluble unit and the acid helps to speed up their enzyme activity while preventing bacterial spoilage (Al-Abri et al, 2014). Fish silage or liquefied fish protein is a mixture of fish liquid by enzymes in the presence of acids.…”