African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6863

Full Length Research Paper

Growth performance and carcass composition of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) fed on black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens Linnaeus, 1758) larvae based diets

General Beven Mundida
  • General Beven Mundida
  • School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 210, 40601 Bondo, Kenya.
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Julius Otieno Manyala
  • Julius Otieno Manyala
  • School of Spatial Planning and Natural Resource Management, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 210, 40601 Bondo, Kenya.
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James Madzimure
  • James Madzimure
  • School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Private Bag 7724, Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe.
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Kenneth Rono
  • Kenneth Rono
  • School of Spatial Planning and Natural Resource Management, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 210, 40601 Bondo, Kenya.
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  •  Received: 05 September 2022
  •  Accepted: 20 January 2023
  •  Published: 31 March 2023

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.

Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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