Evaluation of insect protein on growth and survival of Indian carp Labeo rohita

Aquaculture production and productivity depends on the supplementary feeds and their compositions. The world aquaculture feed industry used 3.72 million tons (mt) of fish meal and 8.25 lakh tons of fish oil in 2007 which was equal to 16.6 mt wet weight of small pelagic forage fishes. This massive usage of small pelagic fish declined the wild stock and hence, fish meal based supplemental feeding practices in aquaculture is a threat to conservation of wild fish population. The increased demand of fish meal from various sectors and decreased supply of by catch increased the cost of production (CoP) and feed cost alone reaching up to 70% of CoP. In a process of looking for alternative sources, Black Soldier Fly (BSF) has great potential to replace the fishmeal because of its high protein and fat. This experiment was designed for comparative evaluation of feeds with BSF protein source and to assess the rate of inclusion of insect protein. The protein levels of 24% and 28% were taken as reference and replaced with the BSF meal and experimented with carps (Rohu fish) for 120 days and observed their survival and growth rate. It was observed that fish meal can be replaced completely with BSF meal and the best results were observed in 24% protein feed prepared with BSF meal which was equivalent to the growth and survival observed at 28% protein with fish meal.