| Popis: |
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the protein value of products from the two seaweeds Saccharina latissima and Palmaria palmata grown in Norwegian waters and to characterize possible beneficial or detrimental effects in the intestine and other organs. Mink, a well-established model for comparison of nutrient digestibility in monogastric animals was used. Two products from each of the seaweeds, a dried whole biomass and a protein concentrate, were evaluated. Five diets were made; a reference diet based on fish meal, and one for each of the four seaweed products. In the latter four, seaweed supplied 200 g/kg of crude protein. Each diet was fed to four male mink for two weeks. The results showed that diets with seaweed were less palatable than the fish meal diet. The animals fed the whole Saccharina diet had a significantly higher water intake and urine production than the other animals, supposedly due to the very high ash content of this seaweed product. This diet also stood out regarding urine concentration of iodine, which was 300 times higher than for the fishmeal-based diet. Apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) for total amino acids, estimated by difference, showed low values for all the seaweed products; 0.574 and 0.734 for the whole and protein concentrated Saccharina products, and 0.588 and 0.700 for the two Palmaria products, respectively. The apparent amino acid digestibility coefficients (ADC) showed greater variation and were particularly low for histidine |
