Growth performance, physiological and antioxidant capacity responses to dietary fish meal replacement with insect meals for aquaculture: A case study in red claw crayfish ( Cherax quadricarinatus )

Abstract

A 60‐day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of yellow mealworm (YM) (Tenebrio molitor) (9%, 18%, 27% and 36%) and black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens) (7%, 14%, 21% and 28%) meal replacing fish meal (FM) on growth performance and antioxidant capacity of red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus). Nine diets, including control, were fed with quadruplicate of 20 crayfish (0.20 ± 0.05 g). The highest weight gain (WG) and lowest feed conversion ratio were observed in crayfish fed YM18 and BSFL14. The highest superoxide dismutase activity and the lowest malondialdehyde content were detected in the hepatopancreas of the crayfish fed YM18 and BSFL14. Compared with the control group, crayfish fed BSFL14 had higher levels of glutathione peroxidase, catalase acid and alkaline phosphatase and the lowest malondialdehyde (MDA) content in hemocytes. The mRNA expression of CqBAF, HSP70 and MnSOD in the hepatopancreas of crayfish showed an increasing trend. Based on the second‐order polynomial regression analysis of WG, the optimal dietary replacement level of FM with YM meal and BSFL was determined to be 21.9% and 17.1% for juvenile C. quadricarinatus.

Effects of dietary substitution of fishmeal by black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) meal on growth performance, whole-body chemical composition, and fatty acid profile of Pontastacus leptodactylus juveniles

“…Concerning the effects of HM in the diet of other crustacean and fish species, Wang et al (2022) proposed that the optimum inclusion of HM in the diet of C. quadricarinatus , was 17.1%, probably implying that for better growth performance the substitution level with HM should be lower than 50%. Additionally, growth performance of juvenile Pacific white shrimp L. vannamei was similar to the control group when the fishmeal replacement with HM was restricted to less than 25% ( Cummins et al, 2017 ) and decreased significantly with a 30% replacement ( Chen et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Most of the published studies using H. illucen s meal for fishmeal replacement have been conducted majorly in farmed fish species such as rainbow trout ( Stadtlander et al, 2017 ), Atlantic salmon ( Li et al, 2020 ), European sea bass ( Magalhães et al, 2017 ), gilthead seabream ( Karapanagiotidis et al, 2023 ), African catfish ( Fawole et al, 2020 ), Nile tilapia ( Tippayadara et al, 2021 ) and yellow catfish ( Xiao et al, 2018 ), and only few in crustaceans such as pacific white shrimp ( Cummins et al, 2017 ) and red claw crayfish ( Wang et al, 2022 ). For P. leptodactylus , Mazlum et al (2021) evaluated the use of Tenebrio molitor and reported that a dietary inclusion level of 13.5%, representing 50% of fishmeal replacement, was successful in terms of growth performance.…”

“…The study conducted on rainbow trout suggested that 40% ΗΜ inclusion, may result at no negative effects on fish physiology or meat quality, however a decrease in desirable polyunsaturated fats was observed ( Renna et al, 2017 ) while a maximum level of 15% inclusion was suggested for unaffected fish growth from a second study ( St-Hilaire et al, 2007 ). Additionally, Wang et al (2022) concluded that for Cherax quadricarinatus juveniles the optimal dietary HM inclusion was determined to be 17.1%. From studies conducted on Litopenaeus vannamei , it was found that 30% HM inclusion negatively affected the growth performance and body composition of the animals ( Chen et al, 2022 ) while the best growth performance was achieved at a substitution amount of 15% ( Hu et al, 2019 ).…”

Insect feed in sustainable crustacean aquaculture

“…Even 1% H. illucens meal significantly improved the palatability of the compound feed (Terrey et al, 2021). Positive effects on crustaceans such as the Longarm river prawn (Macrobrachium tenellum), Danube crayfish (Pontastacus leptodactylus), Smooth marron (Cherax cainii), Australian red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) and M. rosenbergii were also observed when they were fed on insects, including other species such as Trichocorixa sp., M. domestica, B. mori, Two-spotted cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus), Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Allomyrina dichotoma), Short-horned grasshopper (Oxya chinensis) and Protaetia brevitarsis (De León-Ramírez et al, 2018;Foysal et al, 2019Foysal et al, , 2021Martínez-Córdova et al, 2013;Mazlum et al, 2021;McCallum et al, 2021;Peh et al, 2021;Shin and Lee, 2021;Wang et al, 2022) (Table S1, Figure 3). Although the precise mechanisms have not been identified in crustaceans, there is ample evidence that insect supplements confer growth and health benefits (Table S1).…”

Effect of biofloc technology in Farfantepenaeus aztecus culture: The optimization of dietary protein level on growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, non‐specific immune response, and intestinal microbiota

“…Dietary protein directly affects healthy growth, feed intake, and feed costs in aquaculture and is the most expensive nutrient in the diet (Sivaramakrishnan et al, 2022). Fishmeal is the primary source of protein in aquaculture feed and has high percentages in aquaculture formulations (Wang et al, 2022). This is as a result of its high protein content, balanced amino acid composition, and fatty acid profile (Tacon & Metian, 2015).…”