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Abstract
The study evaluated the ability to partly replace fishmeal with cricket meal in the diet of seabass (Psammoperca waigiensis) to determine the appropriate level of crickets to replace fishmeal in the diet of seabass. The experiment consisted of four diet treatments was conducted in completely randomize designed with three replicates. Diets with fishmeal protein content were replaced by cricket meal protein at 0% (control treatment), 25%, 50% and 75%. Experimental fish had an average weight of 11.77 g/fish and an average length of 9.67 cm/fish.
Experimental results showed that daily weight gain and specific growth rate of barramundi after 10 weeks of culture were similar between treatments and the differences were not statistically significant (p> 0.05). Specifically in treatment 0% (0.12 g/day and 0.73%/day), treatment 25% crickets reach (0.13 g/day and 0.76%/ day) and treatment 50% crickets reach (0.14 g/day and 0.84 %/day) and treatment 75% of crickets reached (0.16 g/day and 0.91%/day). Feed conversion ratio and survival rate were also non statistically significant differences between treatments (p> 0.05). Thus, it is possible to replace up to 75% of fishmeal protein with crickets meal in diets of barramundi without negative affect on growth performance, feed efficiency and survival rate of barramundi.
Keywords: seabass, Psammoperca waigiensis, cricket meal, fishmeal