Abstract
BackgroundBeing part of fish's natural diets, insects have become a practical alternative feed ingredient for aquaculture. While nutritional values of insects have been extensively studied in various fish species, their impact on the fish microbiota remains to be fully explored. In an 8-week freshwater feeding trial, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were fed either a commercially relevant reference diet or an insect meal diet wherein black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal comprised 60% of total ingredients. Microbiota of digesta and mucosa origin from the proximal and distal intestine were collected and profiled along with feed and water samples.ResultsThe insect meal diet markedly modulated the salmon intestinal microbiota. Salmon fed the insect meal diet showed similar or lower alpha-diversity indices in the digesta but higher alpha-diversity indices in the mucosa. A group of bacterial genera, dominated by members of the Bacillaceae family, was enriched in salmon fed the insect meal diet, which confirms our previous findings in a seawater feeding trial. We also found that microbiota in the intestine closely resembled that of the feeds but was distinct from the water microbiota. Notably, bacterial genera associated with the diet effects were also present in the feeds.ConclusionsWe conclude that salmon fed the insect meal diets show consistent changes in the intestinal microbiota. The next challenge is to evaluate the extent to which these alterations are attributable to feed microbiota and dietary nutrients, and what these changes mean for fish physiology and health.
Highlights
Being part of fish’s natural diets, insects have become a practical alternative feed ingredient for aqua‐ culture
We found that the insect meal diet markedly modulated the Atlantic salmon intestinal microbiota
Our observation that a particular group of bacterial genera, dominated by members of the Bacillaceae family, was enriched in salmon fed the insect meal diet is in line with findings in our previous seawater trial, wherein salmon were fed an insect meal diet containing 15% black soldier fly larvae meal for 16 weeks [29]
Summary
Being part of fish’s natural diets, insects have become a practical alternative feed ingredient for aqua‐ culture. While nutritional values of insects have been extensively studied in various fish species, their impact on the fish microbiota remains to be fully explored. In an 8-week freshwater feeding trial, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were fed either a commercially relevant reference diet or an insect meal diet wherein black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal comprised 60% of total ingredients. While the nutritional value of black soldier fly larvae meal has been extensively evaluated in various fish species, including Atlantic salmon [10,11,12,13,14,15,16], its influence on fish health remains largely unexplored
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