Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

EFFECTS OF BLACK SOLDIER FLY PROTEIN ON HISTOMORPHOLOGY OF INTESTINE AND LIVER IN JUVENILE RED DRUM Sciaenops ocellatus

Jasmine Perez *,  Juan F. Paredes, Marty Riche, Sahar Mejri, Paul S. Willi s,

David Bradshaw, Radu Popa  

Florida Atlantic University 

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

jperezborja@fau.edu 

 



 

 

 

Fish meal is recognized for its excellent nutritional content and is a key element in many fish diets, however it takes up a larger part of overall cost compared to other ingredients. Additionally, fish meal market variability for aquafeed production confirms the need for an alternative protein source. Thus, it has been reported that incorporating Black soldier fish meal (BSFM) is a viable option to substitute fish meal for aquafeed production practices. Histological analysis of intestines in Red drum provides insights into the efficiency of nutritional absorption, immunity response and digestion processes. Similarly, histological liver analysis provides characteristics on lipid storage and lipid metabolism within the tissue. Thus, histological analysis is crucial to help identify potential impacts of experimental diets on the health and function of the liver and intestine when including BSFM as a fish meal substitute. Therefore, the objective of the study was to investigate the impact of BSFM on the liver and intestine morphology of Red drum. To this end, five experimental diets were formulated to meet nutritional requirements for Red drum. One control diet containing 100% fish meal and four with increasing BSFM protein levels to substitute fish meal (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). A total of 400 fish were evenly distributed into 20 fiberglass tanks with a photoperiod of 12 hours light and 12 hours darkness.  All experimental diets were randomly assigned to each tank with four replicates per treatment during an 8-week feeding trial. Our preliminary results suggest that fish fed with diets containing 50% BSFM protein inclusion presented increased muscle and villus thickness, with slight rise in goblet cells in intestine . Fish fed with 50% BSFM diet in the liver presented minimal changes in lipid deposition compared to the control. Fish fed with diet levels above 50% BSFM, presented noticeable signs of hyper-vacuolization and inflammatory responses in the liver.