PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF MARINE FISHMEAL BY BLACK SOLDIER FLY LARVAE MEAL IN DIET FOR SNAKEHEAD FISH (Channa striata)

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the replacement effect of marine fish meal (FM) protein with black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucens) larvae meal protein on the growth, survival rate, and feed utilization of snakehead fish (Channa striata). BSF larvae were produced by feeding with the mixture of soybean milk by-product and ensiled elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) (ratio of 1: 1). Five iso-nitrogenous (44%) and iso-lipidic (8%) experimental diets were formulated to replace FM using BSF larvae meal at 0% (control), 25% (BSF₂₅), 50% (BSF₅₀), 75% (BSF₇₅) and 100% (BSF₁₀₀). There were three replicates for each treatment. Juvenile fish (19.75 g/fish) were randomly distributed into 15 hapas at 50 fish/hapa. At the end of 6 weeks of a feeding trial, the results showed that final weight, weight gain (WG), daily WG, and the specific growth rate of fish fed the control diet were statistically higher than those of fish fed the BSF₅₀, BSF₇₅, and BSF₁₀₀ diets (p < 0.05), but not statistically different from those fed the BSF₂₅ diet (p > 0.05). Compared to the control group, replacement of 25 - 75% of FM by BSF meal did not significantly affect feed conversion ratio (FCR), but the FCR of fish fed BSF₁₀₀ treatment was statistically higher than that fed the control, BSF₂₅, and BSF₅₀ diets (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in survival rate among treatments (p > 0.05). This study suggests that BSF larvae meal protein could substitute 25% of FM protein without any negative effects on growth performance, survival rate, and feed efficiency of the snakehead fish.