Well done and congratulations to Pabodha Weththasinghe, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) for successfully defending her PhD!
Pabodha’s research, conducted alongside Foods of Norway and SUREAQUA, assesses the nutritional, health and technical properties of the black solider fly (Hermetia illucens) in feed for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
This exciting research is meaningful for salmon aquaculture, as environmental necessity requires the industry to move away from fish meal and oil and to utilize more sustainable alternatives, that in turn do not compromise the health or growth of the salmon.
Insects, particularly black soldier fly larvae, have been of interest as an alternative protein source in recent years. In Pabodha’s work, the success of its inclusion is demonstrated by the number of larvae in the diet and the downstream processing of the larvae. Various downstream processing methods, such as drying and/or removing the oil and exoskeleton fractions, indicate that at moderate inclusion levels, whole dried larvae meal supported optimal growth and outperformed more processed meals. This reveals that use of black solider fly may be used as a cost effective, resource efficient and low processed ingredient for salmon diets.
Read more on NMBU's website!
