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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Simple Summary

Sustainability and profitability of African catfish farming depends on a sustainable and cost-effective supply of feed. Fish meal is still used as the main dietary protein source in the practical diet of fish. However, the supply shortage and high cost are the limiting factors. Insects may represent a promising candidate for fish feeding due to their low footprint production and nutritionally relevant properties. This study revealed that replacement of fish meal with black soldier fly did not negatively affect the production performance and metabolic response of African catfish growers. On the other hand, replacement with yellow mealworm may lead to the fish’s growth reduction and health problems.

Abstract

A six-week experiment was carried out to test the effects of total (100%) and partial (50%) replacement of fish meal in the diet of African catfish growers with black soldier fly (B) meal, yellow mealworm (M) meal, and a 1:1 combination of both (BM) on the production and health of fish. A total of 420 fish with an average initial body weight of 200 ± 0.5 g were randomly distributed in triplicate to seven diet groups (C, B50, B100, M50, M100, BM50, and BM100, respectively). The growth performance and feed utilization of fish fed with partial or total replacement levels of FM with B were not significantly affected (p > 0.05) during the 6 weeks of feeding. In contrast, significant differences were observed between the groups fed with a diet where FM was totally replaced with M meal and the control in terms of final body weight, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio, and protein productive value. Among the blood plasma biochemistry parameters, total cholesterol exhibited a significant difference (p = 0.007) between the M treatments and the control diet. The fatty acid profile of the liver was changed with respect to the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid content in all experimental groups. Parallel with this, the upregulation of elovl5 and fas genes in liver was found in all experimental groups compared to the control. Overall, this study shows that fish meal cannot be substituted with yellow mealworm meal in the practical diet of African catfish without compromising the growth, health and feed utilization parameters.

Details

Title
Physiological Response of Grower African Catfish to Dietary Black Soldier Fly and Mealworm Meal
Author
Gebremichael, Askale 1 ; Kucska, Balázs 2 ; Ardó, László 3 ; Biró, Janka 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Berki, Mária 4 ; Lengyel-Kónya, Éva 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Tömösközi-Farkas, Rita 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Egessa, Robert 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Müller, Tamás 5 ; Gyalog, Gergő 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Sándor, Zsuzsanna J 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Applied Fish Biology, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences Kaposvár Campus, Guba S. u. 40, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary 
 Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences Kaposvár Campus, Guba S. u. 40, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary 
 Research Centre of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Anna liget. u. 35, 5540 Szarvas, Hungary 
 Food Science Research Group, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary 
 Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Szent István Campus, Páter K. u. 1, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary 
First page
968
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20762615
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2791560825
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.