Dietary fishmeal replacement with Hermetia illucens (Black soldier fly, BSF) larvae meal affected production performance, whole body composition, antioxidant status, and health of snakehead (Channa striata) juveniles

Due to the market instability and increasing demand and prices of fishmeal, the aquafeed industry must seek alternative protein feedstuffs to keep producing aquafeeds in a sustainable and cost-effective way. Hermetia illucens (BSF) larvae meal is considered sustainable since its production recycles organic waste streams into a valuable nutrient. Therefore, this study assessed the effects of dietary fish meal (FM) replacement with Hermetia illucens larvae meal (HIM) on the production performance of snakehead (Channa striata) juveniles. Five isoproteic (420 g Kg−1) and isocaloric (19.5 MJ kg−1 diet) experimental diets were designed by replacing FM at 0% (control diet), 25% (HIM25), 50% (HIM50), 75% (HIM75), and 100% (HIM100) with HIM. Four hundred and fifty juveniles (16.36 ± 0.09 g fish−1) were randomly assigned to 15 tanks (400 litres; 30 fish tank−1) and fed respective diets twice daily until apparent satiety for 9 weeks. The weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), and protein efficiency ratio (PER) showed a linear decrease with increasing dietary HIM (P 0.05). Whole-body C12, C14, saturated fatty acid (SFA), and SFA: PUFA ratios increased linearly with increasing FM replacement whereas polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and n3/n6 fatty acid ratios decreased linearly (P 0.05). Aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) and alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) were unaffected by HIM levels (P > 0.05). Fish fed HIM incorporated diets had higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities than fish fed a control diet, with a linear and quadratic effect (P 0.05), whereas plasma GPx increased linearly and quadratically as dietary HIM levels increased (P 0.05). The dietary HIM did not affect the blood biochemistry (NBT, glucose, Hb, RBC, and WBC) and plasma