Utilization of Microbial Phytase in Diets for Juvenile Olive Flounder

Abstract

Phytase have reported to increase the apparent digestibility coefficient of phosphorus and protein in the diets containing plant protein sources. The results in our study also suggest that supplementation of phytase in diets containing cottonseed and soybean meal significantly improves the apparent digestibility phosphorus in juvenile olive flounder. Growth performances might not be affected by dietary cottonseed and soybean meal up to 30% fish meal protein replacement in juvenile olive flounder. Also, dietary supplementation of plant protein sources, such as cottonseed and soybean meal could reduce the serum cholesterol in the fish. In other hand, phytase was reported to be produced by fungi and micro-organisms, particularly Aspergillus oryrae which is abundance in fermented stuffs. The application of fermentation techniques using A. oryzae to improve the nutritional quality of cottonseed and soybean meal could be interesting topics for further studies.