Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

BLACK SOLDIER FLY LARVAE Hermetia illucens EXOSKELETON AS A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF CHITIN IN DIETS FOR CHANNEL CATFISH Ictalurus punctatus

Thiago M. Santana*, Ana Beatriz S. Farias, Vitor F. Silva, Cry stal L. Conde ,
J. Grant Reifers, Penelope  M. Goodman, Heather Jordan, Nicholas Romano,  Delbert M. Gatlin III, Ligia U. Gonçalves,  and Fernando Y. Yamamoto

 

 Thad Cochran  National Warmwater Aquaculture Center

Mississippi State University

Stoneville, MS 38776

tm2501@msstate.edu



 

 Chitin, a biopolymer found in  the  exoskeletons  of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL),  has demonstrated immunostimulating activity in various fish species , and may  serve as  a potential prebiotic to improve growth performance , gut health, and immune responses for aquaculture. Therefore, th is study was conducted to assess the inclusion of chitin from the exoskeleton of BSFL, and purified chitin from shrimp, in the diets of channel catfish juveniles. The  basal  experimental diet was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of channel catfish juveniles (37% crude protein and 19.7 MJ de gross energy per kg) . The exoskeleton of BSFL served as a rich source of chitin (BSFL-Chitin), containing 28.9% chitin. Additionally, shrimp-extracted chitin (Pure-Chitin)  also was evaluated for comparison . Both  chitin  sources were  supplemented  to the basal diet  at  500 and 1000 mg/kg. The feeding trial used 1,000 channel catfish juveniles (1.82 ± 0.12 g), randomly distributed into 25 experimental units at a density of 40 fish per aquarium (110 L) . The fish were fed for 60 days based on biomass (8%), which was adjusted every 5 days according to the growth rate. The  recirculating aquaculture system included a biological a nd a mechanical filter , and water quality parameters  were assessed thrice a week.  The  resulting data were subjected to analyzed two-way ANOVA, as a 2 × 3 factorial with 2 sources of chitin at 3 graded levels. The experimental cat fish exhibited a 12-fold increase from their  initial weight with a fee d  efficiency of ~ 0.86. H owever, the different sources and concentrations of chitin did not significantly impact production  performance parameters, as  fish fed  all the dietary treatments exhibited similar growth. Fish fed the BSFL-Chitin 500 diet had lower viscera weights (P<0.05). The hepatosomatic index (1.4%), and intraperitoneal fat  ratio  (4.1%) were not affected by the inclusion of chitin in the diets of channel catfish. Digesta samples were collected  to profile the  intestinal microbiota  by sequencing 16S rRNA using Illumina MiSeq . In addition, fish  fed the various diets  will be subjected to a bacterial challenge using Edwarsiella ictaluri . Blood and serum parameters are  currently being evaluated.