Insect meal use in aquafeeds: better than fishmeal?

The use of insect-derived products in animal nutrition attracts great attention and shows a great opportunity for meeting the increasing feed raw materials demand. In the aquaculture sector, the interest about the use of insects as feed pushed the European Union to allow, in 2017, the inclusion of insect-derived protein from seven insect species in aquafeeds and from November 2021, the EU legislator authorised also the use of silkworm processed animal proteins in aquaculture, poultry and pig feed, expanding the list from seven to eight authorised species. The talk gives an overview about the nutritional value of insect-derived products and a synthesis of the available literature about the dietary use of insect protein, fat and bioactive compounds with a special focus on fish performance, immune response, oxidative status and gut microbiota in freshwater and marine fish species. On the other hand, the challenges to be solved to allow the a high inclusion of these products in aquafeeds are highlighted as well. Insect-derived products have a great potential to mitigate the shortage of conventional protein and lipid source in aquafeeds.