Abstract
A 12-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing fishmeal with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) meal on growth performance and carcass composition of African catfish fingerlings. Five isonitrogenous (40% CP) diets of 0 (Control), 25, 50, 75 and 100% fishmeal with BSFL were used in triplicate. A randomized complete block design was used, and 600 fingerlings (0.46±0.02g) were randomly selected and stocked at a rate of 40 fingerlings in 15 plastic tanks respectively. Results showed that the treatment diets significantly (P<0.05) affected growth indexes, feed utilisation indices, and carcass composition of fish. Furthermore, 25% fishmeal could be replaced by BSFL meal without significantly reducing growth indexes and feed utilisation indices. However, water quality and condition factors between treatments were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the diets. Decreased concentration of crude protein, ash, nitrogen free extracts in carcass composition of fingerlings with corresponding increase in dietary BSFL meal inclusion was observed. Increasing inclusion levels of BSFL meal and decreasing levels of fishmeal increased the concentration of ether extracts and fibre contents of the body composition. Therefore, BSFL meal protein can be used to partially replace fish meal up to 25% to improve growth performance and feed utilisation. Key words: Feed utilization, fishmeal, indices, insect meal, proximate analysis.
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