Potential of mealworm (Tenebrio molitor ) as an alternative protein source in practical diets for African catfish, Clarias gariepinus

Abstract

Two separate 7‐week feeding trials were conducted to evaluate the use of mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, as an alternative protein source for African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. In Experiment 1, six isonitrogenous (40% crude protein) and isoenergetic (14.64 kJ g−1) practical diets were formulated. The fish meal component of the diets was progressively substituted at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% with mealworm meal. The experimental diets were fed to triplicate groups of catfish fingerlings (mean initial weight of 5.1 ± 0.2 g) at 4% body weight day−1. Growth performance and feed utilization efficiency of catfish fed diets with up to 40% replacement of fish meal with worm meal were not significantly different (P > 0.05) compared to fish fed the control diet without any worm meal. Catfish fed diets with up to 80% replacement of fish meal with the worm meal still displayed good growth and feed utilization efficiency. In Experiment 2, the nutritive value of mealworms was compared with a commercial catfish pellet. Three dietary treatments consisting of fish fed catfish pellets only, catfish pellets and mealworms, and mealworms only were tested. Catfish fed solely on mealworms displayed a slight depression in growth performance but when fed in combination with the catfish pellets grew as well or better than fish fed the commercial catfish pellet only. In both experiments, mealworms, whether used as such or transformed into a dry meal, were found to be highly palatable to the African catfish. Catfish fed mealworm‐based diets also tend to have significantly higher lipids in their carcass. Results indicate that mealworm was an acceptable alternative protein source for the African catfish.

Effect of Tenebrio molitor larvae meal on growth performance, in vivo nutrients digestibility, somatic and marketable indexes of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata)

“…Ng et al (2001), replacing 40 and 80% of fishmeal with mealworm in African catfish (Clarias gariepinus), observed similar growth performance and feed intake to the control group, suggesting a high palatability for this kind of insect meal by the considered species of fish. In a more recent paper, Belforti et al (2015) reported that the inclusion of 25 or 50% of TM in rainbow trout diets did not affect the final fish weight and weight gain, but significantly ameliorated performances parameters as FCR, SGR and PER.…”

“…Tenebrio molitor larvae meal (TM) has been used in broiler De Marco et al, 2015;Biasato et al, 2016) and laying hens (Giannone, 2003;Wang et al, 2005). In fish, TM was used in African catfish (Ng et al, 2001), rainbow trout , and European sea bass , black bullhead (Roncarati et al, 2015) with encouraging results.…”

Nutritional Value of Mealworm, Tenebrio molitor as Food Source

“…As a result, catfish showed a good performance of growth and utilization efficiency when it fed on 80% of mealworm-based diet. In addition, Catfish contained significantly higher amount of lipids in their carcass after fed on mealworm-based diet, suggested that mealworm is highly nutritive diet and acceptable as an alternative protein source (Ng et al, 2001). …”

“…Insects has a potential being an agent in recycling waste products and resources for highly nutritive diet for many other domesticated animals as well as for human consumption. Economical attention on insects as protein source into both human and animal food marketing is increasing among food producers along with escalating conventional cost of protein source such as meat, fish meal and soybean meal (Ng, Liew et al, 2001).…”

A dieta alimentar da presa Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) pode afetar o desenvolvimento do predador Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)?

“…Além da criação de P. nigrispinus, larvas, pupas e adultos de T. molitor podem ser utilizados na criação de outros predadores (Grundy et al, 2000;Zanuncio et al, 2004), parasitoides (Zanuncio et al, 2008;Andrade et al, 2010), pássaros (Martinson;Flaspohler, 2003), morcegos (Mccartney et al, 2007), aranhas (Japyassú;Jotta, 2005), peixes (Ng et al, 2001) e lagartos (Font; Molina-Borja, 2004) e na degradação de resíduos de criatórios de aves (Fischer et al, 2004).…”