Growing Trial of Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) Juveniles Fed on Chironomid Meal as a Partial Substitution for Fish Meal

In fish feeding, importance has been placed on the search for alternative ingredients to fish meal and fish oil due to the decline in fishery supplies and high fluctuations in the price of aquatic ingredients. One of the most promising alternative feedstuffs to date is insects as they are considered to be a sustainable source of amino acids and other essential nutrients. In this study, we evaluated the growth performances of gilthead sea bream that were fed two diets containing different amounts of insect meal, composed of chironomids at the larval stage, in order to reduce the protein source provided by fish meal. Chironomids were collected from aquatic environments, processed, analyzed, and included in these two feeds. We ascertained that the two feeds containing chironomid meal were well accepted. Both the replacements in the diets resulted in suitable growth performances and were not significantly different from the growth that resulted from the fish fed the control diet. We suggest that it is possible to harvest chironomids when the maximum concentration of larvae is found in the aquatic environment, or the other alternative is to culture them in ponds or natural basins. In this way, we can add the chironomid species to the list of insects that can be used for feed production in aquaculture