An Effective Method for Producing a Nutritive Protein Extract Powder from Shrimp-head Waste

Enzymatic hydrolysis has been widely applied for production of protein hydrolysate from shrimp waste and for purification of chitin. In the present study, shrimp (P. semisulcatus) head waste was hydrolysed, using a commercial proteolytic enzyme, Alcalase. In order to improve protein extraction efficiency, certain chemicals such as sodium sulphite and Triton x-100 were used along with the enzyme. When Alcalase (12 AU/kg) used alone, the yield of protein extraction was 45.1% and by using Triton x-100 (0.01 g/kg) together with Alcalase, the yield was decreased to 39%, whereas the presence of sodium sulphite (200 mmol/L) with the enzyme or with the enzyme and Triton x-100 increased the level of protein extraction to 62% and 65.1%, respectively. The resulting protein powder contained sufficient amounts of essential amino acids to be used in feed formulations. By precipitating proteins from the resulting protein extract at pH 3.1, the residual sulphite in protein powder was decreased by 97% and thus the powder can be considered suitable for animal and/or aquaculture feed formulations.