Use of vital wheat gluten in aquaculture feeds

SUMMARY: In aquaculture, when alternative protein sources of Fish Meal (FM) in diets are investigated, Plant Proteins (PP) can be used. Among them, Vital Wheat Gluten (VWG) is a proteinaceous material obtained from wheat after starch extraction. “It is mainly composed of two types of proteins, gliadins and glutenins, which confer specific visco-elasticity that’s to say ability to form a network providing suitable binding. This will lead to specific technological properties that are notably relevant to extruded feeds”. Besides these properties, VWG is a high-protein ingredient with an interesting amino-acid profile. Whereas it is rather low in lysine, it contains more sulfur amino acids than other PP sources and it is high in glutamine, which is known to improve gut health and modulate immunity. VWG is a protein source with one of the highest nitrogen digestibility due to a lack of protease inhibitor activity and to the lenient process used to make the product. By this way, addition of VWG in diet does not adversely affect growth performance in many fish species, even at a high level, and may secure high PP level diets that can induce health damages.