NSU Student Participates in Developing Yeast-Based Feed Additive for Poultry Farms, Fish Farms, and Compound Feed Production

Student’s project Faculty of Natural Sciences Novosibirsk State University Irina Zamyatina’s aimed at developing a high-protein and lipid-enriched feed additive from Yarrowia lipolytica yeast using a domestic producer strain and accessible raw materials — by-products of industrial production. This project was among the winners of the “Student Startup” program and also received a special prize from “Sber”. The project implementation will be carried out jointly at the molecular engineering laboratory and the metabolomics research laboratory of the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU, which will be located in the new NS campusU. The new domestic product can be used on poultry farms, in fish farming enterprises, and in the production of compound feeds.

— The biomass of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast is considered a promising feed ingredient because it contains essential amino acids, B vitamins, lipids, phospholipids, and nucleotides that can stimulate the growth of poultry and fish. Moreover, due to the unique composition of the cell wall of these yeasts, the additive also possesses prebiotic properties: the mannooligosaccharides and beta-glucans it contains naturally strengthen the animals’ immune system, reducing the need for feed antibiotics, which makes animal products harmless and safe for humans. The final product in the form of dry inactivated biomass of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast will contain a balanced amino acid composition and a controlled lipid profile. By using a variety of their strains and selecting different substrates for them, we will be able to regulate the content of beneficial substances in the produced biomass. This opens up great opportunities for us because by changing the fermentation conditions, the cultivated strain, and the composition of the medium, we will obtain biomass with different contents of beneficial substances.This is a great opportunity to create a feed supplement with specified nutritional characteristics and adapt it for various branches of animal husbandry and poultry farming, — Irina Zamyatina said.

Another important advantage of the new feed additive is the remarkable ability of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast to efficiently grow on various substrates, including non-food ones. Secondary raw materials, such as waste from the fat-and-oil industry, can be used as a nutrient medium. Used vegetable oils, surfactants, and other industrial by-products are well suited for this purpose. The use of such substrates solves two problems at once: the production of a valuable feed product and waste disposal.

— The growing amount of waste currently represents a rather serious problem for the domestic food and processing industry. Each year, it generates up to 40 million tons of waste, which could become valuable raw materials for the production of effective feed additives that could reduce dependence on imported resources and improve animal feeding efficiency, — clarified Irina Zamyatina.

In Russia, feed additives based on Yarrowia lipolytica are not yet produced, but scientific research on this yeast species is already underway. Analogues are available on the market—traditional feed additives such as fish and meat-and-bone meal, vegetable (soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower) meal, as well as other plant protein components. However, they have a number of drawbacks that products based on Yarrowia lipolytica yeast do not have: dependence on imports, unstable prices, doubts about safety for animals and humans, insufficient lipid content, presence of antinutrients causing allergies in young animals, veterinary risks, and strict dosage control requirements. Production of additives based on Yarrowia lipolytica yeast is completely independent of import supplies, which reduces risks from currency fluctuations and also eliminates the possibility of introducing pathogenic bacteria.

The project to create a new domestic feed additive is planned to be developed based at the molecular engineering laboratory of the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU, established last year and possessing the necessary scientific and material-technical base for conducting biotechnological research and developing microbiological production technologies, as well as at the metabolomics research laboratory, established this year. Both laboratories will be located in the new NSU campus. The team includes specialists in microbiology, biotechnology, and analytical chemistry: head of the laboratory, Candidate of Biological Sciences Elena Prokopyeva, head of the metabolomics research laboratory, Candidate of Chemical Sciences Artem Rogachev. They intend to conduct a comprehensive study on yeast cultivation, optimization of fermentation parameters, and analysis of the composition of the resulting biomass.

The industrial partner of the project, LLC “Cyberbiotech,” provided the laboratory with a modern biofermenter operating in continuous mode. The use of this continuous-operation equipment allows researchers to maintain stable conditions for cultivating microorganisms, including constant control of temperature, pH level, aeration, and nutrient medium supply. Adhering to these conditions is necessary for the sustainable growth of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast and obtaining biomass with a more stable and predictable chemical composition. Continuous fermentation also enables increased process productivity and facilitates technology scaling, bringing laboratory research closer to semi-industrial production conditions.

— At this stage, we conducted an analysis of the composition of the biomass produced by certain strains of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast provided to us by the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” using the method of high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). In the near future, we plan to carry out a comparative analysis of these strains based on key productivity indicators, including biomass yield, protein content, and lipid accumulation capacity, as well as to select optimal fermentation conditions for each of them. — Irina Zamyatina said.

The finished product is planned to be produced in powder form; it will be a dry inactivated biomass of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast, which can be used both in its pure form and added to compound feeds directly at factories or right on farms during the preparation of feed mixtures. The main consumers of the new feed additive will be agro-industrial enterprises engaged in the production of compound feeds and premixes, as well as poultry farms and fish farming enterprises. The project participants intend to first introduce their product to the regional market and then scale their project to promote the feed additive at the federal level.