Novel health & production benefits from yeast fermentation of pulse starch in pet and aquaculture feeds

宠物食品和水产养殖饲料是豆类有可能大规模纳入的两大行业。这两个行业每年仅在北美就价值数十亿美元，但这些饲料行业需要证明营销脉冲的可接受性和生产效益。这项拟议的研究计划旨在促进脉冲在这两个市场的更多使用。这项研究的主要目的是探索一种新的方法，通过酵母、细菌和真菌发酵来改善宠物和水产养殖饲料中豆类淀粉的适口性和营养成分。据预测，微生物发酵的使用不仅可以改善适口性，还可以改善蛋白质含量、氨基酸组成、改善蛋白质保留率，并在饲料中使用时具有额外的抗炎作用(在肠道内和系统内)。以豌豆淀粉为代表的豆类淀粉，将研究发酵豌豆淀粉在肠道内的抗炎作用，进而发挥多种有益的全身效应的机制，但我们也将研究豌豆淀粉(发酵和未发酵)与蛋白质消化率、氨基酸吸收的相互作用，以确保发酵不会对整体营养造成不利影响。有了这些信息，我们希望为我们的行业赞助商提供一种新的加工方法和产品，加上改善健康益处的科学证据，可以用来极大地扩大目前加拿大种植和加工的豆类的市场，从而使加拿大经济受益。

Pet foods and aquaculture feeds are two major industries where pulses have the potential for large-scale inclusion. Both industries are worth billions of dollars per year in North America alone, but proof of acceptability and production benefits for marketing pulses is needed in these feed industries. This proposed research program is directed at facilitating the increased use of pulses in these two markets. The major objectives of this proposed research are to examine a novel method to improve the palatability and nutrient composition of pulse starches in pets and aquaculture feeds using yeast, bacteria and fungi fermentation. The used of microbial fermentation is predicted to not only improve palatability, but to also improve protein content, amino acid profile, improve protein retention and impart additional anti-inflammatory (within the gut and systemically) benefits when used in feeds. Using pea starch as a representative pulse starch, the mechanisms by which fermented pea starch imparts anti-inflammatory actions within the gut to in turn exert multiple beneficial systemic effects will be investigated, but we will also investigate the interaction of pea starch (fermented and unfermented) with protein digestibility, amino acid absorption to ensure that overall nutrition is not adversely affected by fermentation. Armed with this information, we hope to provide our industry sponsors with a novel processing method and product coupled with scientific evidence of improved health benefits that can be used to greatly expand current markets for Canadian-grown and processed pulses, thereby benefitting the Canadian economy.