Efficiency and Improved Profitability of Insect-Based Aquafeeds for Farming Nile Tilapia Fish (Oreochromis niloticus L.)

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) make up over 80% of aquaculture production. However, the local aquaculture farmers are restricted by the unavailability and expensive cost of formulated rations. To reduce reliance on the scarce and expensive fishmeal used in fish feeds, alternative insect protein has been successfully utilized in many aquafeeds. However, data on the influence of insect-based feed on the growth and economic benefit of feeding tilapia with the emerging insect-based diet are scanty. This study investigated the effect of partially and completely substituting fishmeal with black soldier fly larval meal (BM) on growth and economic parameters of tilapia. The O. niloticus was fed a standard commercial diet as a control (100% FM; 0% BM), BM33 (67% FM; 33% BM), BM67 (33% FM; 67% BM) and BM100 (0% FM; 100% BM) for 20 weeks in randomly assigned cages mounted in an 800 m2 earthen pond. Results from this study showed that diet type significantly (p < 0.05) affected the feed intake of the fish as well as weight gain. The feed conversion ratio and survival rate of O. niloticus did not vary across the different diets. Fish fed Diet1 had a 15% increase in weight when compared to fish fed the control diet. Return on investment and the cost–benefit ratio was similar across the diets, suggesting that BM is a suitable and cost-equivalent dietary supplement of FM up to 100% in aquafeed for growing tilapia fish in earthen ponds for the market.

Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens, L.) larvae meal improves growth performance, feed efficiency and economic returns of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, L.) fry

“…Improved growth performance after BSF‐L meal feeding has also been reported in yellow catfish fry (Xiao et al., 2018), rice field eel ( Monopterus albus ) juvenile (Hu et al., 2020) and Siberian sturgeon fingerlings (Rawski et al., 2020). It is noteworthy that replacing FM by using BSF‐L diets at all levels used did not affect survival rate of the fry in this study, similar to results obtained in European sea bass (Abdel‐Tawwab et al., 2020) and Nile tilapia (Wachira et al., 2021). These results indicate that, replacing FM by using BSF‐L meal at 81 to 84% improves growth performance of Nile tilapia fry by enhancing nutrients utilization without affecting the survival rate of the fish.…”

“…Wachira et al. (2021) reported higher gross profit margin for Nile tilapia fingerlings fed on 100 BSF‐L diet. Moreover, FM replacement with partial defatted black soldier larvae meal (PD‐BSLM) at 25%, 50% and 100% in Nile tilapia juvenile decreased feed cost, increased profit/kilogram gain and resulted in higher economic efficiency (Kishawy et al., 2022).…”

“…Replacing FM with 50%, 75% and 100% housefly (Musca domestica) maggot meal in Nile tilapia sub adults affected water quality by decreasing concentrations of nitrite nitrogen and total phosphorus . For economic analysis, Wachira et al (2021) reported higher gross profit margin for Nile tilapia fingerlings fed on 33% rather than 100% BSF-L meal, but did not record any significant differences on return on investment and the cost-benefit ratio. However, studies on the effects of BSF-L meal on growth performance of Nile tilapia fry, water quality and the corre-…”

“…For economic analysis, Wachira et al. (2021) reported higher gross profit margin for Nile tilapia fingerlings fed on 33% rather than 100% BSF‐L meal, but did not record any significant differences on return on investment and the cost‐benefit ratio. However, studies on the effects of BSF‐L meal on growth performance of Nile tilapia fry, water quality and the corresponding economic analysis are currently limited.…”

Growth performance and economic analysis of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fed on black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens)

“…The present finding on reduction in cost with increased levels of H .illucens in O. niloticus diet are consistent with that of Wachira et al (2021) that observed significant cost reduction of use of increased levels of H. illucens in O. niloticus diets as a protein source.…”