This study was conducted to determine the supplemental effects of two insect meals, mealworm (MW) and black soldier fly (BSF), with high or low lipid levels in diets, on Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Sardine and tuna by-product meals were...
This study was conducted to determine the supplemental effects of two insect meals, mealworm (MW) and black soldier fly (BSF), with high or low lipid levels in diets, on Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Sardine and tuna by-product meals were used as the fish meal source in a control (Con) diet. The fish meals were replaced with MW, defatted MW (deMW), BSF or defatted BSF (deBSF), respectively. The shrimp (body weight: 0.47 g) were stocked into 20 acryl tanks (215 L) and fed the diets six times a day. After 45 days of the feeding trial, the shrimp that were fed insect meals had significantly higher phenoloxidase and superoxide dismutase activities than the shrimp fed Con diet. The gene expressions of prophenoloxidase, crustin and penaeidine-3c in shrimp hepatopancrease were also higher in shrimp that were fed the insect diets, regardless of defatting than those in shirmp that were fed Con diet. The survival against Vibrio parahaemolyticus was higher in shrimp that were fed the diets containing defatted insect meals than in shrimp that were fed Con diet. These results indicate that MW and BSF, regardless of lipid levels, could be good protein sources for the enhancement of innate immunity and anti-oxidant capacity of the shrimp.