Physiological Response of Grower African Catfish to Dietary Black Soldier Fly and Mealworm Meal.
Askale Gebremichael, Balázs Kucska, László Ardó, Janka Biró, Mária Berki, Éva Lengyel-Kónya, Rita Tömösközi-Farkas, Robert Egessa, Tamás Müller, Gergő Gyalog, Zsuzsanna J Sándor
Author Information
Askale Gebremichael: Department of Applied Fish Biology, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences Kaposvár Campus, Guba S. u. 40, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary.
Balázs Kucska: Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences Kaposvár Campus, Guba S. u. 40, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary.
László Ardó: Research Centre of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Anna liget. u. 35, 5540 Szarvas, Hungary.
Janka Biró: Research Centre of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Anna liget. u. 35, 5540 Szarvas, Hungary. ORCID
Mária Berki: Food Science Research Group, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary.
Éva Lengyel-Kónya: Food Science Research Group, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary. ORCID
Rita Tömösközi-Farkas: Food Science Research Group, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary. ORCID
Robert Egessa: Research Centre of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Anna liget. u. 35, 5540 Szarvas, Hungary. ORCID
Tamás Müller: Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Szent István Campus, Páter K. u. 1, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Gergő Gyalog: Research Centre of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Anna liget. u. 35, 5540 Szarvas, Hungary. ORCID
Zsuzsanna J Sándor: Research Centre of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Anna liget. u. 35, 5540 Szarvas, Hungary. ORCID
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 ( > 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 ( = 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 and 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.
