Global population is in constant growth, and so is its global protein demand. Aquaculture has been highlighted as one of the best possibilities to satisfy animal protein demand due to the remarkable efficiency of fish growth in comparison with terrestrial animals (Fry, 2018), and to its fast development as an industrial food sector. The most commonly farmed fish require aquafeeds with a high content in protein, whose demand has been traditionally satisfied with a significant inclusion of fishmeal (FM) in fish feeding formulations. In order to favour this continuous development in a sustainable way, the scientific and industrial communities have invested big efforts on
Hermetia illucens and Tenebrio molitor were tested on account of their potential to replace fish protein in feed. Two levels of replacement for H. illucens, 30% and 50% (H30 and H50), and one for T. molitor, 50% (T50), as well as an additional diet with a modified fatty acid fraction (H50M), were investigated in relation to juvenile Sparus aurata growth indices, enzyme activities and gut microbiome. A T50 diet showed similar results to a control (C) diet, with no significant differences regarding morphological indices and minor differences for nutritional indices. Regarding the gut microbiome, H50M was the diet which showed the more similar prokaryotic community to C, which suggests that fatty acid fractions might influence the composition of the gut microbiome. Nevertheless, differences appeared to be related to a redistribution of dominant species, while changes in species affiliation were limited to minoritary species. The positive correlation between some of these minoritary species (Peptostreptococcus russellii, Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Weisella confusa) and several fish growth parameters might explain differences between control and insect diets. Deciphering such uncertainty and revealing the potential role these unusual species may play on fish performance should be addressed in future investigations.
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