The effect of dietary cricket meal (Gryllus bimaculatus) on growth performance, antioxidant enzyme activities, and haematological response of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the growth performance, biomarkers of oxidative stress, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) as well as the haematological response of African catfish after being fed with fish feed containing different levels of cricket meal. The juvenile fish were assigned to three different treatments with isonitrogenous (35 %) and isoenergetic (19 kJ g(-1)) diets containing 100 % cricket meal (100 % CM), 75 % cricket meal (75 % CM), and 100 % fishmeal (100 % FM) as control groups for 7 weeks. The results indicated that a diet containing 100 % CM and 75 % CM improved growth performance in terms of body weight gain and specific growth rate, when compared to 100 % FM. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) did not differ significantly between all diets, but reduced FCR and increased PER were observed with a higher inclusion of cricket meal. A haematological examination of fish demonstrated no significant difference of red blood cells in all diets and white blood cells showed a significantly higher value in fishmeal-fed fish. On the other hand, haemoglobin and haematocrit significantly increased with increasing amounts of cricket meal in the diet. Antioxidant activity of CAT was higher in the 100 % CM group compared to fish fed other diets, whereas GST and SOD showed increasing trends with a higher incorporation of cricket, although insignificant differences were observed between all diets. These results suggest that cricket meal could be an alternative to fishmeal as a protein source in the African catfish diet.

Evaluation of some insects as potential feed ingredients for ruminants: chemical composition, in vitro rumen fermentation and methane emissions

“…High CP contents found in JFC, MW and BSF confirmed some previous studies (Bovera et al, 2015;Cullere et al, 2016;Taufek et al, 2016 form of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (Sanchez-Muros et al, 2014). House cricket, mealworm and black soldier fly have been reported to be rich in linoleic acid; more than 35% of total fatty acids present in these insects were in the form of linoleic acid (Oonincx et al, 2015).…”

Use of house cricket to address food security in Kenya: Nutrient and chitin composition of farmed crickets as influenced by age

“…The data obtained from this study compared well with other studies that have analysed mineral content of crickets (Rumpold and Schlüter, 2015;Payne et al, 2016;Taufek et al, 2016).…”

Influence of dietary black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens Linnaeus) pulp on growth performance, antioxidant capacity and intestinal health of juvenile mirror carp ( Cyprinus carpio var. specularis)

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