The effects of defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL) as fish meal alternatives in the diet of Penaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)

T. Bhuvaneshwaran; Narottam Prasad Sahu; Naseemashahul Shamna; Parimal Sardar; Muralidhar P. Ande; Karthireddy Syamala; Shivali Sugund; Siddharth Sharma; Nisha Chuphal; N. Raghuvaran; Samrat Kumar Nirala

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0133

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The effects of defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL) as fish meal alternatives in the diet of Penaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)

Annals of Animal Science

AHEAD OF PRINT

By: T. Bhuvaneshwaran, Narottam Prasad Sahu, Naseemashahul Shamna, Parimal Sardar, Muralidhar P. Ande, Karthireddy Syamala, Shivali Sugund, Siddharth Sharma, Nisha Chuphal, N. Raghuvaran and Samrat Kumar Nirala

Open Access

|Jun 2026

Figures & Tables

Hepatopancreatic malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Hepatopancreatic phenoloxidase (PO) activity of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Amino acid composition (on dry matter basis) of experimental diets fed to Penaeus vannamei juveniles for 60 days

Amino acid (%)	Diet/Treatments¹

	control	ECBSFL_25%	ECBSFL_50%	ECBSFL_75%	ECBSFL_100%	OSBSFL_25%	OSBSFL_50%	OSBSFL_75%	OSBSFL_100%
Arginine	2.95	2.84	2.98	2.91	2.74	2.86	2.67	2.52	2.37
Histidine	1.02	0.97	0.91	0.86	1.05	1.00	0.86	0.75	0.65
Isoleucine	1.39	1.32	1.26	1.19	1.43	1.32	1.02	0.86	0.71
Leucine	2.39	2.25	2.12	1.99	2.46	2.26	1.86	1.60	1.35
Lysine	2.03	1.90	1.76	1.63	1.54	1.91	1.56	1.31	1.06
Methionine	0.74	0.67	0.61	0.54	0.71	0.66	0.55	0.43	0.32
Phenylalanine	2.03	1.98	1.93	1.88	1.76	1.99	1.80	1.68	1.57
Threonine	1.20	1.27	1.34	1.41	1.20	1.15	0.99	0.84	0.69
Valine	2.29	2.25	2.20	2.15	2.35	2.24	1.91	1.73	1.56
Tyrosine	0.97	0.87	0.76	0.66	1.01	0.88	0.85	0.75	0.65
Cystine	0.36	0.35	0.35	0.34	0.36	0.32	0.34	0.31	0.27
Alanine	1.33	1.32	1.32	1.31	1.38	1.31	1.29	1.26	1.24
aspartic acid	2.70	2.62	2.54	2.46	2.89	2.64	2.57	2.52	2.46
Glycine	2.04	1.91	1.79	1.66	2.13	1.92	1.80	1.68	1.56
Glutamic	6.58	6.19	5.81	5.43	6.92	6.23	5.85	5.50	5.15
Proline	1.80	1.86	1.93	1.99	1.88	1.93	2.06	2.19	2.32
Serine	1.47	1.43	1.40	1.36	1.54	1.44	1.40	1.37	1.34

Acitivites of protein metabolic enzymes in hepatopancreas and muscle of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for the period of 60 days

Treatments¹	AST²		ALT³

	hepatopancreas	muscle	hepatopancreas	muscle
Control	2.85±0.04 bc	0.89±0.63	1.00±0.20 bcd	1.33±0.26 ab
ECBSFL_25%	2.21±0.37 cd	0.72±0.08	0.82±0.16 bcd	0.93±0.15 bc
ECBSFL_50%	3.77±0.37 b	1.30±0.18	1.27±0.11 b	1.10±0.16 abc
ECBSFL_75%	5.11±0.24 a	1.44±0.10	2.99±0.28 a	1.65±0.34 a
ECBSFL_100%	1.35±0.51 de	0.25±0.07	0.62±0.10 bcd	0.55±0.09 c
OSBSFL_25%	2.87±0.43 bc	1.04±0.20	1.21±0.40 bc	0.83±0.13 bc
OSBSFL_50%	2.05±0.37 cd	0.78±0.31	0.58±0.21 cd	0.82±0.11 bc
OSBSFL_75%	1.32±0.27 de	0.42±0.09	0.74±0.05 bcd	0.65±0.13 c
OSBSFL_100%	0.94±0.09 e	0.62±0.17	0.51±0.02 d	0.51±0.02 c
P-value	<0.001	0.085	<0.001	0.004

Hemocyanin and serum biochemical profiles of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Treatments¹		Serum biochemical parameters

	hemocyanin (mmol/l)	total protein (g/dl)	glucose (mg/dl)	total cholesterol (mg/dl)	triglycerides (mg/dl)
Control	1.76±0.01	5.62±0.40 ab	66.26±6.70 cd	107.41±9.75 a	144.93±3.13 a
ECBSFL_25%	1.75±0.02	5.5±0.10 ab	68.23±1.14 bcd	101.71±1.49 bc	142.69±0.54 ab
ECBSFL_50%	1.78±0.01	5.62±0.17 ab	66.8±2.34 cd	100.9±0.86 bc	137.76±3.13 cd
ECBSFL_75%	1.76±0.02	5.65±0.70 a	60.14±1.66 d	101.39±1.55 bc	133.73±0.54 d
ECBSFL_100%	1.78±0.02	5.44±0.35 ab	70.68±0.96 abcd	75.19±2.56 d	124.93±1.22 e
OSBSFL_25%	1.75±0.01	4.88±0.13 abc	70.74±3.4 abcd	105.78±1.88 ab	144.63±1.33 a
OSBSFL_50%	1.76±0.01	4.31±0.11 bc	76.11±1.77 abc	98.13±5.22 ab	138.96±1.37 bc
OSBSFL_75%	1.77±0.02	4.06±0.76 c	78.02±3.25 ab	93.58±2.26 bc	134.03±0.93 d
OSBSFL_100%	1.75±0.03	4.04±0.13 c	81.07±3.36 a	87.23±2.26 d	128.51±0.65 e
P value	0.672	0.023	0.006	< 0.001	<0.001

Fatty acid composition (on dry matter basis) of experimental diets fed to Penaeus vannamei juveniles for 60 days

Fatty acids (%)	Diets/Treatments¹

	control	ECBSFL_25%	ECBSFL_50%	ECBSFL_75%	ECBSFL_100%	OSBSFL_25%	OSBSFL_50%	OSBSFL_75%	OSBSFL_100%
C12:0	1.07	1.48	1.36	1.21	1.41	1.15	1.99	2.58	2.37
C14:0	2.12	3.14	4.16	4.09	4.24	4.39	4.77	3.9	4.28
C16:0	15.73	20.83	18.18	18.05	17.21	19.61	19.95	18.93	18.84
C16:1(n-7)	4.84	4.43	4.21	4.16	4.12	4.5	4.09	3.51	4.23
C18:0	3.02	4.99	4.78	4.06	3.68	4.78	4.5	3.94	4.02
C18:1(n-9)	25.62	23.71	24.75	27.52	29.11	24.59	25.45	26.01	27.16
C18:2(n-6)	24.97	21.66	23.65	25.85	27.06	22.31	23.01	23.78	23.21
C18:3(n-3)	2.12	1.95	1.93	2.00	1.8	1.73	1.78	1.52	1.37
C20:4(n-6)	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ
C20:5(n-3)	5.24	5.44	5.35	5.01	4.61	5.98	5.16	4.24	4.65
C22:6(n-3)	4.52	4.59	2.58	2.66	1.59	4.8	3.63	2.38	2.47
ΣSFA	27.93	36.41	32.64	31.45	30.47	34.45	35.45	33.19	31.87
ΣMUFA	30.42	28.14	28.96	32.33	33.92	29.89	30.25	34.33	32.57
ΣPUFA	36.85	34.48	33.51	36.22	35.7	35.66	34.3	32.48	31.7
ΣUSFA	67.31	63.44	62.47	68.12	69.62	65.55	64.55	66.81	63.09
Σn-3 PUFA	11.88	11.82	9.86	9.67	8.00	12.51	10.42	8.06	8.49
Σn-6 PUFA	24.97	21.82	23.72	25.95	27.06	22.31	23.16	23.85	23.21

Growth, feed and nutrient utilization and survival of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for the period of 60 days

Treatments¹	Initial body weight (g)	Final body weight (g)	Weight gain (%)	SGR²	TGC³	FCR²	PER⁴	LER⁵	Survival (%)
Control	2.12±0.00	17.17±0.09 b	707.87±4.02 b	3.48±0.006 b	1.89±0.00 b	1.49±0.01 c	1.12±0.01 b	6.7±0.04 b	86.66±3.33
ECBSFL_25%	2.12±0.00	17.23±0.08 b	711.15±4.31 b	3.49±0.008 b	1.89±0.00 b	1.48±0.00 c	1.12±0.01 b	6.74±0.04 b	85.00±2.88
ECBSFL_50%	2.12±0.00	17.53±0.12 b	725.19±5.68 b	3.51±0.012 b	1.91±0.00 b	1.45±0.01 c	1.15±0.01 b	6.88±0.05 b	88.33±2.20
ECBSFL_75%	2.12±0.00	18.43±0.11 a	773.22±8.21 a	3.61±0.017 a	1.95±0.01 a	1.36±0.01 c	1.22±0.01 a	7.28±0.05 a	87.50±2.50
ECBSFL_100%	2.12±0.00	15.63±0.17 c	626.68±11.43 c	3.30±0.027 c	1.81±0.01 c	1.68±0.02 b	0.99±0.02 c	6.03±0.08 c	78.33±6.29
OSBSFL_25%	2.12±0.00	17.26±0.03 b	711.62±1.74 b	3.49±0.003 b	1.9±0.00 b	1.48±0.00 c	1.12±0.00 b	6.77±0.02 b	89.17±2.20
OSBSFL_50%	2.12±0.00	17.17±0.15 b	708.65±6.93 b	3.48±0.015 b	1.89±0.01 b	1.49±0.01 c	1.12±0.01 b	6.72±0.07 b	75.01±4.50
OSBSFL_75%	2.11±0.00	15.27±0.14 cd	612.67±8.11 cd	3.27±0.020 cd	1.79±0.01 d	1.72±0.23 ab	0.97±0.01 cd	5.86±0.07 d	81.26±3.00
OSBSFL_100%	2.12±0.00	14.90±0.17 d	601.18±8.14 d	3.25±0.020 d	1.77±0.01 d	1.75±0.26 a	0.95±0.01 d	5.7±0.08 d	71.66±4.40
P-value	0.415	0.006	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.052

Activities of hepatopancreatic digestive enzymes in Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for the period of 60 days

Treatments¹	Protease²	Amylase³	Lipase⁴
Control	2.46±0.08 c	6.17±0.18 a	0.46±0.02 a
ECBSFL_25%	2.48±0.13 c	5.99±0.14 a	0.31±0.04 b
ECBSFL_50%	3.11±0.19 a	5.44±0.23 ab	0.28±0.03 b
ECBSFL_75%	3.61±0.15 a	6.01±0.19 a	0.30±0.004 b
ECBSFL_100%	2.79±0.08 bc	4.12±0.44 c	0.31±0.002 b
OSBSFL_25%	2.56±0.27 c	5.24±0.22 b	0.32±0.02 b
OSBSFL_50%	2.63±0.10 c	4.61±0.16 bc	0.31±0.01 b
OSBSFL_75%	2.82±0.12 bc	4.02±0.13 c	0.20±0.02 c
OSBSFL_100%	2.91±0.37 b	3.82±0.15 c	0.25±0.01 bc
P-value	0.004	0.012	<0.001

Formulation and proximate composition of experimental diets fed to Penaeus vannamei juveniles for 60 days

Ingredients composition (g/kg)	Diet/Treatments¹

	control	ECBSFL_25%	ECBSFL_50%	ECBSFL_75%	ECBSFL_100%	OSBSFL_25%	OSBSFL_50%	OSBSFL_75%	OSBSFL_100%
Fish meal	250.00	187.50	125.00	62.50	0.00	187.50	125.00	62.50	0.00
DBSFL²	0.00	62.50	125.00	187.50	250.00	62.50	125.00	187.50	250.00
SBM³	145.00	145.00	145.00	145.00	145.00	145.00	145.00	145.00	145.00
GNOC⁴	140.00	155.00	170.00	186.00	202.80	165.00	185.00	208.00	233.00
Wheat flour	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Maize flour	70.00	70.00	70.00	70.00	70.00	70.00	70.00	70.00	70.00
DORB⁵	238.30	218.80	200.10	181.05	161.25	208.80	185.10	161.30	133.30
Fish oil	7.00	10.00	12.50	14.50	16.50	10.00	12.50	13.00	15.00
Soybean oil	3.50	5.00	6.20	7.25	8.25	5.00	6.20	6.50	7.50
BHT⁶	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20
Vit-Min mix⁷	15.50	15.50	15.50	15.50	15.50	15.50	15.50	15.50	15.50
Cholesterol	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50
CMC⁸	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00
Choline	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00
chloride
Soy lecithin	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00
Total	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00	1000.00
Proximate composition (on % dry matter basis)
Dry matter	90.84	90.21	89.15	89.8	89.96	90.18	90.75	90.74	90.68
Crude protein	36.16	36.25	35.99	36.39	35.86	36.15	36.16	35.96	36.23
Ether extract	6.12	6.08	6.03	5.97	6.13	6.03	6.14	6.01	6.10
Crude fiber	4.89	4.97	5.05	5.16	5.21	4.98	5.01	5.17	5.22
Total ash	9.79	9.35	9.33	9.68	9.34	9.39	9.39	9.09	9.13
NFE⁹	43.04	43.35	43.6	42.8	43.46	43.45	43.3	43.77	43.32
GE¹⁰ (MJ/kg)	19.39	19.46	19.44	19.39	19.45	19.44	19.46	19.47	19.50
DE¹¹ (MJ/Kg).	15.55	15.60	15.78	15.49	15.57	15.58	15.60	15.59	15.60
P:E¹² (mg protein/KJ DE)	23.25	23.23	23.08	23.48	23.01	23.20	23.18	23.04	23.23

Amino acid composition (on dry matter basis) of full-fatted and defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL)

Amino acids (%)	BSFL meal

	full-fatted ECBSFL meal	defatted ECBSFL meal	full-fatted OSBSFL meal	defatted OSBSFL meal
Arginine	3.45	2.85	3.22	0.88
Histidine	0.87	0.92	0.72	1.44
Leucine	2.13	2.22	1.97	2.09
Isoleucine	1.43	1.59	1.33	1.45
Lysine	2.09	2.00	1.90	2.03
Methionine	1.70	0.73	0.52	0.56
Phenylalanine	1.23	1.27	1.10	1.18
Threonine	1.11	3.61	1.02	1.59
Valine	1.92	2.15	1.84	1.97
Alanine	1.50	1.85	1.41	1.49
Aspartic acid	1.77	2.02	1.66	1.90
Cystine	0.33	0.49	0.09	0.37
Glutamic acid	4.19	4.63	3.89	4.27
Glycine	1.61	1.76	1.58	1.65
Proline	2.68	3.65	2.08	4.53
Serine	1.22	1.42	1.13	1.30

Activities of oxidative stress enzymes in hepatopancreas of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Treatments¹	SOD²	CAT³
Control	2.84±0.48 a	3.34±0.52 bcd
ECBSFL_25%	2.79±0.23 ab	2.35±0.29 d
ECBSFL_50%	2.81±0.18 a	2.06±0.13 d
ECBSFL_75%	2.71±0.19 a	3.28±0.44 bcd
ECBSFL_100%	2.59±0.16 ab	5.37±0.29 a
OSBSFL_25%	2.22±0.24 b	2.62±0.49 cd
OSBSFL_50%	1.78±0.15 c	5.10±0.18 abc
OSBSFL_75%	1.82±0.12 bc	3.48±0.44 bcd
OSBSFL_100%	2.91±0.29 a	6.97±0.51 a
P-value	0.004	0.004

Fatty acid composition (on dry matter basis) of full-fatted and defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL)

Fatty acids (%)	BSFL meal

	full-fatted ECBSFL meal	defatted ECBSFL meal	full-fatted OSBSFL meal	defatted OSBSFL meal
C10:0	1.83	BLQ	1.13	0.83
C12:0	63.08	47.95	49.22	54.33
C14:0	9.92	8.41	8.53	10.71
C16:0	11.37	20.10	15.19	22.41
C16:1(n-7)	5.55	7.58	1.83	0.96
C18:0	0.79	BLQ	0.69	1.3
C18:1(n-9)	4.44	10.13	15.41	5.85
C18:2(n-6)	1.64	5.83	7.84	BLQ
C18:3(n-3)	0.19	BLQ	BLQ	3.61
C20:4(n-6)	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ
C20:5(n-3)	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ
C22:6(n-3)	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ
ΣSFA	87.43	76.46	74.83	89.58
ΣMUFA	10.74	17.71	17.33	6.81
ΣPUFA	1.83	5.83	7.84	3.61
Σn-3 PUFA	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ
Σn-6 PUFA	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ	BLQ

Whole-body proximate composition (on % wet weight basis) of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Treatments¹	Moisture	Protein	Ether extract	Total ash
Control	75.99±0.06	15.93±0.07	1.83±0.01	3.19±0.02
ECBSFL_25%	75.97±0.08	15.74±0.06	1.81±0.02	3.23±0.03
ECBSFL_50%	75.63±0.34	15.9±0.26	1.83±0.03	3.36±0.07
ECBSFL_75%	75.06±0.44	16.7±0.34	1.88±0.03	3.36±0.10
ECBSFL_100%	75.13±0.29	15.74±0.21	1.89±0.02	3.28±0.07
OSBSFL_25%	75.11±0.53	15.93±0.31	1.90±0.04	3.38±0.12
OSBSFL_50%	74.83±0.55	15.86±0.31	1.90±0.04	3.32±0.11
OSBSFL_75%	75.44±0.41	15.29±0.33	1.86±0.03	3.28±0.11
OSBSFL_100%	75.28±0.37	15.39±0.17	1.90±0.03	3.33±0.02
P-value	0.370	0.049	0.246	0.735

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2025-0133 | Journal eISSN: 2300-8733 | Journal ISSN: 1642-3402

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Language: English

Submitted on: Sep 3, 2025

Accepted on: Nov 26, 2025

Published on: Jun 6, 2026

Published by: National Research Institute of Animal Production

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

growth performance,

insect meal,

immune response,

physio-metabolic status,

shrimp feed

Related subjects:

Medicine,

Veterinary medicine

© 2026 T. Bhuvaneshwaran, Narottam Prasad Sahu, Naseemashahul Shamna, Parimal Sardar, Muralidhar P. Ande, Karthireddy Syamala, Shivali Sugund, Siddharth Sharma, Nisha Chuphal, N. Raghuvaran, Samrat Kumar Nirala, published by National Research Institute of Animal Production
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

AHEAD OF PRINT

The effects of defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL) as fish meal alternatives in the diet of Penaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Amino acid composition (on dry matter basis) of experimental diets fed to Penaeus vannamei juveniles for 60 days

Acitivites of protein metabolic enzymes in hepatopancreas and muscle of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for the period of 60 days

Hemocyanin and serum biochemical profiles of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Fatty acid composition (on dry matter basis) of experimental diets fed to Penaeus vannamei juveniles for 60 days

Growth, feed and nutrient utilization and survival of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for the period of 60 days

Activities of hepatopancreatic digestive enzymes in Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for the period of 60 days

Formulation and proximate composition of experimental diets fed to Penaeus vannamei juveniles for 60 days

Amino acid composition (on dry matter basis) of full-fatted and defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL)

Activities of oxidative stress enzymes in hepatopancreas of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

Fatty acid composition (on dry matter basis) of full-fatted and defatted black soldier fly larvae meals (ECBSFL and OSBSFL)

Whole-body proximate composition (on % wet weight basis) of Penaeus vannamei juveniles fed with different experimental diets for 60 days

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