Effect of replacement of fish meal with cricket meal on growth performance, proximate composition, digestive enzyme activities, serum biochemical indices, and antioxidant capacity in largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides )

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary replacement of fish meal with cricket meal on growth performance, proximate composition, digestive enzyme activities, serum biochemical indices and antioxidant capacity in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated with dietary 0%, 15%, 30%, 45% and 60% fishmeal (FM) replaced by cricket meal (namely, T0, T15, T30, T45 and T60, respectively). Largemouth bass (LMB) was reared in an indoor for 8 weeks. The results showed that the final body weight (FBW), weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and viscerosomatic index in fish fed T15, T30 and T45 had no significant differences compared to fish fed T0 (p > 0.05). The FBW, WGR and SGR in fish fed T60 were significantly lower than that in fish fed T0 (p < 0.05). There are no significantly different in the hepatosomatic index, condition factor and survival rate among all the groups. The content of crude protein in whole fish was significantly lower in fish fed T60 compared to fish fed T0 (p < 0.05). The content of crude lipid was observed to be significantly higher in fish fed T60 compared to fish fed T0 (p < 0.05). The trypsin activity was significantly lower in fish fed T60 (p < 0.05). Muscle content of methionine significantly declined as dietary cricket meal concentrations increased. The activity of triglyceride and total cholesterol in fish fed T60 was significantly higher than that in fish fed T0 (p < 0.05). The activity of catalase was significantly higher in fish fed T30, T45 and T60 (p < 0.05). It was concluded that up to 45% of cricket meal can replace FM in diets for the growth of LMB and further studies on methionine adequacy should be conducted.