Total replacement of fish meal by enriched‐fatty acidHermetia illucensmeal did not substantially affect growth parameters or innate immune status and improved whole body biochemical quality of Nile tilapia juveniles

Abstract

The study was designed to evaluate the effects of total remplacement of fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) by vegetable oil and black soldier fly (BSF) larval meal enriched with fatty acids (FAs) in Nile tilapia juveniles. Fish were fed a FMFO control diet compared to a non‐FA‐enriched BSF diet (BSF/T0) and diets enriched in linolenic acid‐ALA (BSF/T1) or in eicosapentanoic acid‐EPA (BSF/T2). After 59 days, the BSF diets did not affect growth except for a decrease by the BSF/T1 diet. However, protein utilization and digestibility were reduced by all the BSF diets. FA‐enriched diets did not improve the digestive enzyme activities or immune parameters, while lysozyme and ACH50 values were increased by the BSF/T0 diet. Levels of polyunsaturated FAs in the whole body of fish fed ALA or EPA‐enriched BSF diets were comparable to those of FMFO controls. The results demonstrate that BSF meal can totally replace FM without substantially effect on growth or innate immune status. The decrease in fish carcass FA quality induced by the BSF meal can be prevented by a well defined protocol for PUFA enrichment. Nonetheless, investigation of the long‐term effects of the BSF meal use during the ongrowing phase is still needed.

Fish Feeds in Aquaponics and Beyond: A Novel Concept to Evaluate Protein Sources in Diets for Circular Multitrophic Food Production Systems

“…While Agbohessou et al [76] and Tippayadara et al [77] found no adverse effects on the performance of tilapia when entirely replacing the FM in their control diets with BSFM, the findings of Taufek et al [78], Rana et al [79], Muin et al [80], and Devic et al [53] are in line with this study and show reduced performance above a certain level of FM replacement with 50% replacement or, in the case of [53], a BSFM inclusion of 80 g/kg diet being optimal. In this study as well, the BSF diet resulted in reduced growth and feed conversion compared to the FM diet.…”

Insect rearing on biowaste represents a competitive advantage for fish farming

“…Second, the state of fish health, as well as survival rate, is reported to increase after feeding with BSFL, which represents savings on pharmaceuticals and losses associated with the management of dead or injured fish 141,142 . Nevertheless, improvements in the haematology of fish (red and white blood cell counts) were reported 143,144 in some cases. BSFL were also found to stimulate the proliferation of lymphocytes (both B and T cells) and improve immunoglobulin production 145,146 .…”

Insect lipid in fish nutrition: Recent knowledge and future application in aquaculture

“…If BSFL is to be grown on various waste substrates and used as a feed component in animal feed, understanding these qualities is crucial. According to a recent study by Agbohessou et al, 12 depending on the fatty acid makeup of the substrate used for raising, the BSFL can accumulate significant amounts of PUFAs or LC‐PUFAs. In fact, BSFL produced using a substrate rich in ALA, based on soybean and maize meal, contains more ALA than BSFL produced using other substrates.…”

“…Due to a number of positive attributes, insect oil has been utilized as a substitute lipid source along with other terrestrial oil in poultry and pig diet formulations. In aquaculture, though, the focus has been on substituting insect meal for fishmeal (FM) as a source of protein in diets for different aquatic species 12–22 . However, the use of insect oil as the sole or substitute lipid source in aquafeed is still in initial stages 14,17,23–27 .…”