1. July | August 2012Enzymes to improve water and soil quality in aquaculture ponds International Aquafeed is published five times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom. All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. Copyright 2012 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1464-0058The International magazine for the aquaculture feed industry

2. FEATUREEnzymes to improvewater and soil quality inaquaculture pondsby Elisabeth Mayer MSc, BIOMIN, AustriaI n aquaculture, environmental Somespecificenzymescanbeactive impacts such as deteriorated in a very wide range of environmental water quality and poor pond conditions. While some micro-organ- bottoms are becoming challeng- isms have a narrow range of environ-ing and omnipresent problems. This mentalconditionswheretheyareablearticlehighlightsmeasureswhichcan Picture 1: Samples of the pond bottom to proliferate (pH, oxygen, availability,be taken to improve the quality of soil of the AquaStar groups etc.), certain enzymes are able to actwater and soil in aquaculture ponds, in multiple environments. They remainand therefore the immediate envi- activeevenwhenenvironmentalcondi-ronment of fish and shrimp. Better tions change drastically, especially ifrearing conditions will improve the they are immobilised on a carrier. Foroverallperformanceofyourfishand example, protease is able to workshrimp. effectivelyinpHsbetweenfourand11 Picture 2: Samples of the pond bottom andwithtemperatureslessthan20C As the aquaculture industry soil of the control groups and greater than 70 C (Whiteley etexpands and develops, several chal- al.,2002).lengeshavearisen.Akeyproblemcausedby Whenaddedtotheculturewaterorspread Furthermore, another advantage of thisaquaculture operations is its environmental ontopofthepondbottomsoil,enzymesare immobilisation is that the enzyme activity isimpact. Intensive aquaculture pond systems able to degrade the major organic constitu- preservedandcanthusbereused(Karamandresultinhighorganicloadingsthatcausedete- entsnormallyfoundinshrimpandfishponds. Nicell,1997).rioratedwaterqualityandpondbottomand Eachenzymehasitsmodeofactionandis There is currently a lot of interest inthe accumulation of toxic compounds such veryspecificinthechemicalreactionitcataly- manufacturing such enzyme preparationsas ammonia, nitrites and hydrogen sulfides. ses.Forexample,proteasehydrolyzesinsolu- despitethehighcostsofisolation,purificationThischangesthebacterialcompositioninthe bleproteinsandamylasepolysaccharidessuch andproduction.Nevertheless,someofthesewaterandsoilofpondsbyincreasingthepres- as starch; cellulase catalyses the breakdown productsarealreadybeingusedasbioreme-enceofpathogenicbacteria,thuscontributing of cellulose (the major cell wall material in diationagentsinaquaculture. plants);-Glucosidaseisinvolvedincatalysinggreatly to the occurrence of diseases in fishandshrimpfarming. the hydrolysis and biodegradation of various Proven benefits of bioremediation -glucosidespresentinplantdebris;andlipase EnzymeshavethecapacitytostabilizetheDirect enzyme application worksonlipidsorfats(Table1). soilorganicmatterandcanbeusedeffectively One way of improving water and soil Enzymes are also naturally produced tomanagesoilqualityandrearingconditionsquality in aquaculture and excreted by some foraquaticspecies.Thereisnotonespecificis the direct application table 1: a diverse range of microbes. These extra- enzymethatworksbestinallcases(Ruggaberof enzymes and ben- enzymes used as bioremediation cellular enzymes, such as andTalley,2006).Ablendcontainingavarietyeficial micro-organisms agents in aquaculture cellulase, protease and ofenzymesmaybethemosteffectivemeansto ponds. This type of enzyme Substrate amylase, are produced for bioremediation in aquaculture. The effi-biotechnology applica- during the aerobic fer- cacyandmodeofactionofenzymesrequiretion is often referred to amylase Starch mentationoforganicmat- thatthey:as bioremediation, an ter by micro-organisms, Catalyse the degradation of organic -Glucosidase -Glucosideenvironmentally friendly for example by some matter (such as feces, undigested feedapproach which involves Cellulase Cellulose Bacillus species. Bacilli are anddeadalgae)the manipulation of lipase lipids and fat commonly found in pond Break apart large sludge particlesmicro-organisms in ponds Protease Protein sedimentsandcanalsobe (deflocculation) and reduce sludgeto reduce pathogenic Xylan, addedtothepondwater accumulationbacteria, enhancing the Xylanase Hemicellulose for bioremediation pur- Reducesolidscontentmineralization of organic Pectinase Pectin poses. Some Bacillus sp. Decomposeplantdebrismatter and removing are also able to degrade Reduce anaerobic conditions in theundesirable waste com- nitrogenous compounds pondbottompoundsthroughspecificenzymes. and their large variety of excreted (extracel- Promote the degradation of certain In the bioremediation process, enzymes lular)enzymesadditionallyhelpstospeedup complexnutrientsplay the role of catalysts that accelerate the degradation of organic matter and toxic Facilitatethereleaseofhighlydigestiblebiochemicalreactionsinpondsoilandwater. compoundssuchasammonia. nutrients 36 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | July-August 2012

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4. FEATURE quality of the pond, and the performance of the cultured fish andshrimp. Studies have confirmed that ponds using bac- terial strains and enzymes showed better soil condi- tions (yellow soil) Figure 1: Avergae growth rate of shrimp during Figure 2: Feed conversion ratio of control and enhanced the production period and probiotic test groups shrimp perform- ance, while the soil Enzymes strongly reduce sludge accu- (FCR) was improved by nine percent in of ponds without the treatment showed anmulationandanaerobicconditionsinpond thetreatmentcomparedwiththecontrol. accumulationofdeadorganicmatter(blacksoil).bottoms. They promote a faster degrada- The soil of the treatment ponds in The addition of specific enzymes (pro-tion of the organic matter that accumu- Picture1wasyellow,whichisregardedas teases,amylases,cellulases,xylanases)and/lates in ponds, especially under intensive thebestbottomtype,whilethesoilofthe or enzyme-producing bacteria, such asproductionconditions.Thisorganicmatter controlpondsinPicture2exhibitedadark Bacillus sp., promotes the pre-digestion ofcomprises uneaten feed, dead plankton, blackcolor,anindicationoftheaccumula- cer tain complex nutrients and facilitatesmineral soils, feces and pathogenic micro- tionofdeadorganicmatter. the release of highly digestible nutrients.organismsinthesoilwheretheconditions Results suggested that with the com- This helps to reduce sludge and organ-are often anaerobic. However, for all bined use of beneficial bacteria and ic matter accumulation, as well as thethese bioremediation processes catalysed enzymes, pond soils containing black and anaerobic conditions in pond bottoms,by enzymes, the presence of beneficial glutinous organic sludge turned into a thus improving the rearing conditions forbacteria is important as well (Boyd and moreyellowsoil.Fortheanimals,enzymes shrimpandfish. Gross,1998).Enzymesacceleratemicrobi- improve the growth and performance ofalprocessesbybreakingapartlargesludge shrimpbybalancingtheirambientenviron- More InforMatIon:particles, thus creating more surface areas ment. BIOMINwhichcanthenbeattackedandfermented The improvements of enzyme appli- www.biomin.netby microbes. This reduction of sludge and cation may bedead organic matter can be seen visually greater in pondsnotonlythroughbetterwaterquality,but with even higheralsothroughbettersoilquality. stocking densities and feeding ratesCombining bacteria where the waterand enzymes and soil quality To test the effects of a combination deteriorategreatlyof beneficial microbes and enzymes on during the pro-soil quality under practical pond condi- ductionperiod.tions, a field study was conducted usinga commercial probiotic product (2 x 10 9 PromisingCFU/g, AquaStar PondZyme, BIOMIN resultsGmbH, Austria) containing an enzyme For the amel-blend(amylases,xylanases,cellulases,pro- iorationofaquaticteases) under intensive farming conditions environmentalforwhiteshrimp(Litopenaeus vannamei)in conditions underZhuhai,China. intensive farming Fourearthshrimpponds(0.70.8ha/ operations, thepond) with a depth of 1 1.2 m were combined applica-stocked with juvenile shrimp (approxi- tion of enzymesmately 1.4 g/shrimp) with a density of 50 and beneficialshrimp/m. The trial was carried out for a bacteria as anperiodof57dayswithadosageof500g/ effective manage-haofproductappliedonceamonthtothe ment tool seemstreatmentgroup(twoponds).Thecontrol very promising.pondsconsistedoftwopondswithnormal Enzymes playproductionoperations.Theshrimpinboth importantrolesastreatmentsreceivedthesamediets. biological control Figure 1 shows that the average daily agents in pondgrowth of shrimp in the treatment group culture, particu-increased by 36 percent. It can be seen larly with respectfrom Figure 2 that feed conversion ratio to water and soil July-August 2012 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | 37

5. Aqua NewsIFFOBacksMarineMammalandTurtleConservationinSouthAmericaI FFO(theInternationalFishmealandFish IFFO, said,IFFO is delighted to see this Oil Organisation) is backing an initiative excellent initiative from Camanchaca in by one of its members, the Compaa Chile and indeed other recent develop-Pesquera Camanchaca (Camanchaca), ments in South America regarding thewhich aims to teach fishermen the art of quantification and avoidance of the inci-environmental stewardship, better pro- dental catches of marine mammals andtecting marine animals including dolphins, sea tur tles. In creating the IFFO RSseaturtlesandsharks. standard we were hopeful that this type The initiative provides training for the of conser vation programme would beseniorcrewwhoworkaboardCamanchacas developedbyourmembersandwelookvessels that land in the northern Chilean forward to hearing more good news inportofIquique.Theschemewillcontribute thefuture.towards the gathering of vital research The Chile based project follows oneinformationthatwillbeusedtohelpinthe takenlastyearinPeru, inwhichanumberconservation of protected marine species. of fishing companies working with envi-The first seminar took place duringApril ronmental NGOs such as the Marine2012. Conser vation Society (MCS) and IFFO has developed a Global Standard ProDelphinusdistributedaseriesofturtlefor Responsible Supply (IFFO RS) for identification and resuscitation guides andFishmeal and Fish Oil. Its overarching pro- heldaseriesoftrainingcourses.gramme includes the goal to reduce any Dawn Purchase, Senior Aquaculturepotentialenvironmentalimpactarisingfrom Officer at MCS, said,I am delighted withfishing catches made within its responsibly thesuccessofthisprojectandthespin-offmanagedfisheries. conservation courses being run for fish- Camanchaca was one of the first com- ermen.The IFFO RS standard provides apanies in Chile to have its factories cer- real opportunity to promote change ontified under the IFFO RS standard earlier the water, which is what MCS strives tothis year. It has now formed a partnership achieve. Increasing the identification skillswiththeDepartmentofMarineSciencesof andconservationknowledgeofthesefish-theArturoPratUniversityanditsTechnical ermen in both Peru and Chile is a greatTrainingCentre, toofferspecialisedtraining way of achieving environmental steward-seminarstothefishermen. ship. Large marine animals are sometimescaptured in the fishing nets designed tocatchsmalloilyfishsuchasanchovyandsardine, ingredients used in the pro-duction of fishmeal for animal feedand fish oil for human consumption.IFFO is keen to ensure that its members More InforMatIon:areawareoftheimportanceofconserving Website: www.iffo.netmarinecreaturesaspartofthemarineeco-system. Topics covered at the seminars include IFFOthe ability to identify and correctly record TheInternationaldataonprotectedmarinemammalsfound FishmealandFishOiloff the coast of northern Chile, as well as Organisationrepresentslearning how to safely return these crea- thefishmealandfishoilindustrytures to the sea with the minimum risk of worldwide.IFFOsmembersresidedamage. MrAdolfoCarvajal, Camanchacas inmorethan30countries,accountManagerfortheNorthernFishingArea,said, fortwo-thirdsofworldproductionSustainable development requires us to and80percentoffishmealandfishtake action in order to control the impact oiltradedworldwide.Approximatelyofouractivitiesonthemarineenvironment 5milliontonnesoffishmealareand without a doubt we have now under- producedeachyearglobally,togethertakenactionsinthisrespect.Thesetraining with1milliontonnesoffishoil.seminarsforourseniorcrewmemberswill IFFOsheadquartersarelocatedinStallow them to demonstrate Camanchacas AlbansintheUnitedKingdomanditcommitment to the responsible sourcing alsohasofficesinLima,Peru,andinoffish. Beijing,China. Andrew Jackson,Technical Director at July-August 2012 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | 7

6. This digital re-print is part of the July | August 2012 edition of International LINKSAquafeed magazine. Content from the magazine is available to view free-of-charge, both as a fullonline magazine on our website, and as an archive of individual features onthe docstoc website.Please click here to view our other publications on www.docstoc.com. VO L U M E 1 5 I S S U E 4 2 0 1 2 See the full issue Tough environment produces worlds best Barramundi EXPERT TOPIC - Tilapia Visit the International Aquafeed website a collection of articles creating a worldwide perspective Noise a source of stress for farmed fish Contact the International Aquafeed Team Enzymes Unlocking the hidden potential of plant proteins using solid state fermentation technology Enzymes to improve water and soil quality in Subscribe to International Aquafeed aquaculture ponds THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR THE AQUACULTURE FEED INDUSTRYIAF12.04.indd 1 19/07/2012 17:15To purchase a paper copy of the magazine, or to subscribe to the paperedition please contact our Circulation and Subscriptions Manager on the linkabove. INFORMATION FOR ADVERTISERS - CLICK HERE www.aquafeed.co.uk