Results of two distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) aqua feeding trials conducted by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) in Vietnam show that U.S. DDGS is an economical and nutritious way to feed pangasius catfish produced there.
“The goal of this project was to show the industry that you can feasibly utilize plant-based proteins, both DDGS and soybean meal, as combined sources of protein in fish diets,� said Kevin Roepke, USGC regional director for South and Southeast Asia.
“We accomplished this with the results indicating that DDGS inclusion rates of up to 15 percent in aqua diets help achieve excellent growth performance rates and have no negative impact on fillet yield or color.�
In the past, many Vietnamese fish feeders were reluctant to feed DDGS to catfish because they had concerns that xanthophyll, a yellow or brown plant pigment found in DDGS, would turn their fish fillets yellow. A white fillet is perfered among consumers in Asia and the United States.
“We specifically evaluated the impact of feeding DDGS on fillet color during this trial,� Roepke said. “We found almost no differences in the color of the fish fillets for catfish fed DDGS over both short and long periods of time. This information will help alleviate aqua producers’ concerns and spark their interest in this corn co-product.�
This study is just the starting point for the Council to introduce Vietnamese catfish producers to DDGS.
“We plan to bring these results to interested end-users through seminars, presentations and one-on-one meetings,� Roepke said. “We hope that at the same time we are conducting this program, we can begin to persuade aqua producers in my region to consider using corn in their rations as well as DDGS.�
Click here to read a previous Global Update article on this program.