Assessment of black soldier fly larvae as Nile tilapia feed.

Abstract

The research on black soldier fly as a fish feed for caged Nile tilapia in River Nile at Namasagali; aimed at comparing convectional feeds and feeds with black soldier fly larvae as the major protein source was focused on setting impact on fish feed acquisition challenges by attaining cheap and environmentally friendly feeds from the local available trash materials that have been abandoned in our environments (BSF). Caged Nile tilapia was fed twice a day on different feeds (conventional feeds and pellets with black solider fly larvae replacing the protein content), initially al 30% body weight then later at 15 body weight and studied for three months. Every feed type was used in three different cages; which cages were arranged serially with each feed type interconnected to the other cages fed on the' other feed type. Tilapia fed on conventional feeds showed a higher growth response than those fed feeds with BSFL (50g) as the major protein content in three months’ period. The feed with BSFL as the protein source was so fatty and smelt wacky although palatable to the fish. Nyakeri Evans Manyara slighted a similar out-come in his thesis (optimization of production of black soldier fly larvae for fish feed formulation) submitted to School of Agricultural and Food Sciences Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of' Science and Technology, which showed that the growth trend of fish stocked at the same average initial weight and fed on the FM and BSI diets were similar throughout the feeding period but with BSFI fed fish rambling FM fed fish. BSFL was cheaper (2800/Kg), compared with conventional feeds (5000kg) with average total costs of feeds 156,800 and 271,600 shillings respectively.