The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristic of proteases in crude extracte from the digestive tract of cultivated Grey Mullet. Besides, an in vitro proteolysis simulating digestion of six formulas with 32% protein, which consist of brown fish meal, white fish meal, soybean powder mixed meal or shrimp shell meal were also investigated. The result showed that there were two pepsins in the crude extract of stomach and their optimal pH is 2.0 and 3.5, respectively. The protease species from intestine tissue were trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase A, carboxypeptidase B and aminopeptidase when crude enzymes were evaluated with synthetic specific substrates. Chymotrypsin was the major digestive protease in intestine tract and the optimal pH is 7.5. In vitro protein digestibility showed the order: brown fish high content meal (BFHM)> white fish high content meal (WFHM)> white fish low content meal (WFLM)> soybean powder meal (SM)> white fish and soybean powder mixed meal (WFSM) > soybean powder and shrimp shell mixed meal (SSM). The protein digestive efficiency was positively correlated to the total content of tyrosine and phenylalanine (r^2=0.746) in feeds except SSM.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristic of proteases in crude extracte from the digestive tract of cultivated Grey Mullet. Besides, an in vitro proteolysis simulating digestion of six formulas with 32% protein, which consist of brown fish meal, white fish meal, soybean powder mixed meal or shrimp shell meal were also investigated. The result showed that there were two pepsins in the crude extract of stomach and their optimal pH is 2.0 and 3.5, respectively. The protease species from intestine tissue were trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase A, carboxypeptidase B and aminopeptidase when crude enzymes were evaluated with synthetic specific substrates. Chymotrypsin was the major digestive protease in intestine tract and the optimal pH is 7.5. In vitro protein digestibility showed the order: brown fish high content meal (BFHM)> white fish high content meal (WFHM)> white fish low content meal (WFLM)> soybean powder meal (SM)> white fish and soybean powder mixed meal (WFSM) > soybean powder and shrimp shell mixed meal (SSM). The protein digestive efficiency was positively correlated to the total content of tyrosine and phenylalanine (r^2=0.746) in feeds except SSM.