Project description:Black soldier fly larvae meal (BSFL) from Hermetia illucens is a promising alternative protein source in diets for farmed fish. The larvae can efficiently convert low-value organic material into high quality protein in a production cycle with low arable land and freshwater inputs. A few recent studies have shown that BSFL is a suitable protein source for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in smaller controlled experiments. However, industry-relevant field trials conducted under large scale near-commercial conditions over a longer period are lacking. In this study, a feeding trial was performed to evaluate the impact of BSFL on growth performance and health of Atlantic salmon during the grow out phase in seawater, in a commercial site in Vestland county, Norway. A total of 320,000 post-smolt Atlantic salmon were distributed into six duplicate sea cages and fed one of three diets (commercial-like control diet and two test diets partially replacing the protein content of the control diet with 4 % and 8 % defatted BSFL meal) for 21 weeks, until a relevant commercial slaughter size of 4.5-5.0 kg was reached. Health parameters were assessed including histology of the distal intestine (DI), in addition to DI microbiota identification (by 16s rRNA-seq) and salmon RNA-seq of DI and head kidney (HK). The results showed that the inclusion of BSFL meal supported growth performance and had no adverse effect on gut health. The beta diversity of the distal intestine microbiota and the relative abundance of families Lactobacillaceae and the chitinolytic Bacillaceae increased in the fish fed the BSFL diets. Additionally, no histopathological changes were attributable to BSFL meal intake. Results from RNA-seq in DI revealed that BSFL inclusion modulates metabolic processes associated with lipids, the response to estrogens, the activity of immune receptors (to chemokines), phagocytosis and extracellular vesicles. Based on these results, black soldier fly larvae meal is a suitable alternative protein ingredient in inclusions of up to at least 8 % for Atlantic salmon under industrial fish farming conditions.
Project description:The larvae of black soldier fly (BSF) Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), has demonstrated ability in the efficient bioconversion of organic waste into a sustainable source of food and feed, but fundamental biology remains to be discovered to exploit their full biodegradative potential. Herein, LC-MS/MS was used to assess the efficiency of eight differing extraction protocols to build foundational knowledge regarding the proteome landscape of both BSF larvae body and gut. No specific protocol was superior in capturing the BSF body and gut proteome, but each yielded complementary information to improve BSF proteome coverage. Protocol-specific functional annotation using protein level information has shown that the selection of extraction buffer can affect protein detection and their associated functional classes within the measured BSF larval gut proteome. Metaproteome analysis on BSF larvae gut has uncovered the prevalence of two bacterial phyla: actinobacteria and proteobacteria. We envisage that comparing a range of extraction protocols and investigating the proteome from the BSF body and gut separately will expand the fundamental knowledge of the BSF proteome and thereby provide translational opportunities for future research to enhance their efficiency for waste degradation and contribution to the circular economy.
Project description:This study was designed to address key questions concerning the use of alternative protein sources for animal feeds and addresses aspects such as their nutrient composition and impact on gut function. The transcriptional response of intestinal mucosal tissue (jejunum and ileum) served as parameters for the local response. Growing pigs (BW 35 kg/approx. 10 weeks) were fed with experimental diets containing a single, common or new protein sources viz. soybean meal (SBM), black soldier fly larvae (BSF), spray dried blood plasma (SDPP), rapeseed meal (RSM), and wheat gluten meal (WGM) over a period of 4 weeks.
Project description:Farmed Atlantic salmon was given either a 6 % cellulose diet, a diet containing 6 % shrimp shell chitin or a diet containing 6 % chitin from black soldier fly larvae for a period of 4 weeks. The fish were split into six tanks at the beginning of the experiment; six fish per tank and two tanks per diet. RNA from stomach and pyloric caeca from four fish given each diet was sequenced.
Project description:Frass is the by-product of the larval meal industry and includes larval waste, exoskeleton sheds, and residual feed ingredients. Experimental frass was derived from the larvae of black solder flies (Hermetia illucens) fed distillers dried grains. A 10-week study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary levels of frass on the global gene expression of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. Three diets containing 0, 50, and 300 g frass per kg diet were fed to channel catfish (5.24 ± 0.04 g) in quadruplicate aquaria to apparent satiation twice daily. Intestine (n=12 in pools of 3) and liver (n=12 in pools of 3) tissues were taken from fish at the end of the trial and processed for high-throughput Illumina RNA sequencing (RNAseq). Pairwise comparisons identified both up- and down-regulated genes in frass diets compared to no frass controls.