FEATURE

The future of fish meal replacement:

Cotton Protein
This high-protein, palatable feed
ingredient comes from the cotton
plant and is available today

by Tom Wedegaertner, director of agricultural research, Cotton Incorporated

n the 1985 movie Back to the Future, time travelers

visit 2015. By pure coincidence, the date they
visited coincided with Aquaculture Europe 2015,
giving attendees the opportunity to speculate about
what aquaculture will look like in another 30
years. An exciting prediction was made: by 2045,
more protein from the cotton plant will be used in
aquaculture feeds than that from fishmeal.
The good news is we dont need a tricked-out
DeLorean time machine to take us to the future to confirm
that prediction, because the future is right in front of us. The
industrys quest for a sustainable, plant-based protein to meet
Table 1: Reported tolerance of various aquatic species to gossypol in the
total diet

Species

Maximumtolerance,
ppm (FG)

Toxic Effects
Description

Reference

Channel Catfish

800

No adverse effects
for growth or blood

Yildrim-Aksoy
et al. (2004b)

Channel Catfish

336

Reduced growth

Barros et al.
(1984)

Tilapia (O. spp.)

520

Reduced growth,
increased liver
gossypol level

Mbahinzireki
et al. (2001)

Juvenile Rainbow
Trout

250

Reduced growth,
increased liver
gossypol level

Roehm et al.
(1967)

Adult Rainbow
Trout

495

Normal growth,
lower hematocrit &
hemoglobin

Dabrowski et
al. (2000)

Rainbow Trout

232

Reduced growth
and reduced
hemoglobin

Dabrowski et
al. (2001)

Pacific White
Shrimp

1100

Reduced feed
intake, reduced
growth, high
mortality

Lim (1996)

current and future demands takes us to a present-day cotton field.

Worldwide, the annual cotton crop produces about 10 million
metric tons of pure protein. This is equivalent to 16 million
metric tons of fishmeal, or four times current fishmeal production.
Its no secret that at current worldwide growth rates, which
currently stand at approximately eight percent annually, the
aquaculture industry will soon require fishmeal in volumes far

beyond that which the oceans can sustainably provide. The

United Nations FAO reports that fish populations targeted for
fishmeal production could be depleted by 2030.
Cottonseed protein, byproducts of cotton production, are
expected to be an excellent and far less costly financially
and environmentally replacement for fishmeal in aquaculture
applications.

Unlocking cottonseeds protein potential

Although best known for its use in textiles, the cotton plant
is increasingly valued for its seed, which is crushed for its oil
and sold into the food industry or fed whole as a premium feed
ingredient to high-producing dairy cows. In the ginning process,
the fluffy white fiber is removed, leaving behind a fuzzy, proteinrich cottonseed.
Proven highly palatable to aquatic animals in feeding trials,
cottonseed has great potential but its use has been limited due
to a naturally occurring toxin, gossypol, produced by the tiny
glands distributed throughout the cotton plant. Gossypol, a
defense mechanism designed by nature to discourage predation,
is toxic at some level for all animals, insects and microbes but
is tolerated well by ruminants. The primary mechanism of its
toxicity involves the binding of gossypol with the iron in red
blood cells, severely limiting the bloods ability to transport
oxygen.
Biotechnology now exists to turn off the production of
gossypol just in the seed, and Cotton Incorporated, a notfor-profit research and marketing company, is taking steps to
commercialize this ultra-low gossypol cotton variety. In the
meantime, two immediate opportunities exist for aquaculture to
tap the proven benefits of cottonseed as a fish meal replacement.
First, all cottonseed available today can be formulated to meet
some of the dietary needs of most aquaculture species. Second,
a naturally glandless variety of cottonseed discovered in the
1950s is currently being cultivated on an experimental basis on
about 150 acres in New Mexico, USA, providing the aquaculture
industry with a very limited supply of gossypol-free cotton
protein for research and evaluation. Increased demand for this
product could easily result in a rapid expansion in glandless
cotton acreage in New Mexico where low bug pressure allows it
to be successfully grown.

Jumbo-sized plant-based alternative

In the desert of New Mexico, a commercial inland shrimp

16 | January | February 2016 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

farmer grows out jumbo shrimp on

a diet largely made up of highprotein cottonseed flour. New
Mexico Shrimp Company has
partnered with Cotton Incorporated
in a commercial-scale project that
demonstrates cottonseeds usability
for aquaculture and highlighting
cottons contribution to improving
the sustainability of local shrimp
production.
In this arid pocket of the United
States, commercial cotton growers
have unlimited potential to grow
glandless cotton varieties.
New Mexico Shrimp Company
is set up for conducting research
and feeding trials with diets
containing varying levels of locally
grown cottonseed to analyze feed
efficiency, water quality and growth
rate. The findings are promising.
Complete replacement of fishmeal
with cottonseed protein flour has resulted in no negative effects
on performance. These results are consistent with the findings
of several research projects recently conducted by Texas A&M
University.
Recent research conducted by the University of North Carolina
concluded that menhaden fishmeal can be 100 percent replaced
by cotton protein in the diet of juvenile black sea bass, without
affecting performance. The researchers observed that diets

containing cottonseed protein were consumed voraciously by the

juvenile sea bass.
Recent studies at Auburn University found similar results with
pompano and concluded that glandless cottonseed protein is
acceptable for use in feed for Florida pompano.
Protein from the cotton plant is poised to make a significant
contribution to the sustainability of aquaculture, by extending the
supply of precious and most likely unsustainable fishmeal.

International Aquafeed - January | February 2016 | 17

FEATURE

The future: ultra-low gossypol cotton

While glandless cotton can be grown in New Mexico, its

susceptibility to insect pressure prevents it from being grown on
a commercial scale elsewhere. Over the past several decades,
chemical, mechanical and microbial processes have been used
to remove gossypol but have been deemed too expensive or
ineffective for successful commercial application.
The bright spot today is transgenic technology, which silences
the expression of the gene only in the seed creates an otherwise
normal cotton plant. The transgenic cotton plant produces ultralow gossypol seeds while retaining the gossypol component
in the remainder of the plant, keeping its associated defenses
against fungi, insects and disease. While the plant technology is
promising, it may take years to become commercially available.
In addition to regulatory issues, this technology will need to be
inserted into modern, high yielding varieties, a time-consuming
process.

LEIBER BETA-S
EXCELLENT FOR FISH

Table 2: Fish Meal and Cottonseed Meal Amino Acid Comparison

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For strong, immunocompetent fish:

Fish Meal

Cottonseed
Meal

CSM as a %
of FM

Lysin

8.7

4.9

56%

Threonine

1.6

3.5

76%

Cystine

0.9

1.9

268%

Trytophan

1.3

1.5

115%

Valine

5.5

4.8

87%

Isoleucine

4.7

3.5

75%

Argininine

6.3

12.4

197%

Phenylalanine

4.4

5.9

134%

Tryosine

3.6

3.4

94%

Biertreber
Histidine

2.6

Beta-S
3 Plus

115%

Serine

4.4

4.6

104%

Alaninie

6.8

4.2

62%

Aspartic Acid

10

9.6

96%

Glutamic Acid

14.13

20.5

145%

Glycine

6.6

4.4

67%

Proline

4.3

93%

Aquacultures insatiable demand for protein and its desire

to replace fishmeal with a plant-based protein is the cotton
industrys motivation for investing in ultra-low gossypol cotton
varieties and ensuring a market for this high-value protein source.
Feed cottonseed today
The potential of cottonseed is astounding. Depending on
how cottonseed is processed, it can be made into a meal, flour,
concentrate or isolate with protein levels ranging from 41-93
percent.
Cottonseed is much more palatable than other plant-based
proteins and it is nutritionally very comparable to soybean meal,
with the addition of a small amount lysine. Its proven palatability
is also evident in cottonseeds common use for baits, lures,
attractants and feeding stimulants.
Aquaculture producers can explore ways to use cottonseed meal
today, and even lower the cost of their aquaculture rations, by
understanding the levels of gossypol and the limitations of their
aquatic species [Table 1].
In aquaculture species, the toxicity of gossypol varies widely,
with catfish and shrimp being some of the most tolerant species.
This is presumably due to the lower oxygen requirements of
catfish and the absence of iron in the blood of shrimp.
Other species such as trout and tilapia are moderately tolerant

Improvement of the cellular &

humoral defence mechanisms
Support of immunological competence
in larval and juvenile stages
Improvement of feed conversion

Leiber GmbH
Hafenstrae 24
49565 Bramsche
Germany
Tel. +49 (0)5461 9303-0
Fax +49 (0)5461 9303-29
www.leibergmbh.de
info@leibergmbh.de

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24.08.15 12:07

FEATURE

and have been fed feeds containing low levels of cottonseed

meal without a reduction in performance.
Research and documentation exist to guide the formulation
of lower cost aquaculture rations using cottonseed meal
to replace or be used in combination with other protein
sources. The tolerance level to free gossypol of most aquatic
animals is well above what would be found in a typical diet
containing a properly processed cottonseed meal, even at
levels of 25-50 percent (Li & Robinson, 2006). When using
cottonseed meal in an aquatic diet a gossypol analysis is
essential!
Cottonseed meal is readily available from oil mills. Since
many of these mills produce a product that is used to produce
cattle feed, it is not well suited for use in aquaculture feeds,
except catfish.
It can be used at some level by requesting high-protein
cottonseed meal and working with a nutritionist to produce
a cost-effective ration that falls safely within the gossypol
tolerances of your aquaculture species.
In addition to iron, gossypol will bind with lysine, and will
require the addition of lysine and sometimes methionine in
the feed mix. Also, the addition of iron salts to the feed mix
provides additional safety when it is added at a weight ratio
of 1:1 iron to gossypol.

Feeding trials: bring a vision to life

Limited quantities of glandless cottonseed are available

to advance the understanding and use of cottonseed protein
in aquaculture. Feeding trials with New Mexico Shrimp
Company continue; meanwhile, Cotton Incorporated
seeks additional commercial partners for feeding trials and
demonstration projects.
As we learn more about how this, readily available plantbased protein, can transform the aquaculture industry, and
support its continued growth, we realize that the future starts
today.
We recall an iconic line from Back to the Future: Your
future is whatever you make of it, so make it a good one.
For more information on cottonseed as a sustainable
protein alternative to fish meal, or to discuss your interest in
participating in a feeding trial, contact
International Aquafeed - January | February 2016 | 19