Term of Award
Fall 2023
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Biology
Committee Chair
Anthony Siccardi
Committee Member 1
Heather Joesting
Committee Member 2
Michele Guidone
Non-Voting Committee Member
Brigette Brinton
Abstract
Since the 1980s, non-algal aquaculture has grown to encompass 49% of all seafood production in response to a growing human population and increased seafood demand (FAO, 2022). Hurdles exist to aquaculture sustainability, including dependence on wild sourced fishmeal (FM) and the impacts wastewater discharge. It takes 4-5 tons of wild forage fish to produce one ton of dry FM (Miles and Chapman, 2006) and as aquaculture is primarily conducted in earthen ponds and public open water bodies (FAO, 2022), finfish culture can have a high impact on the surrounding environment by discharging excess nutrients. This study used algae turf scrubber (ATS) biomass grown on a 9.14-meter ATS placed at the outflow of a Statesboro wastewater treatment facility to raise black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens, as a FM replacement protein in blue tilapia diets. Five diets were formulated to include a 100% FM diet, 50% FM replacement, and 100% FM replacement with commercial feeds used as controls. These were fed to 125 juvenile Blue Tilapia stocked in 60.6-liter tanks in a randomized design over six weeks. Results showed no differences amongst the diets with respect to growth, survival, hepatosomatic index, visceral index, intraperitoneal fat, or muscle mass. Excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from discharge waste can be recycled by ATS biomass converted into feed for blue tilapia using BSF larvae. This study demonstrated a possible sustainability solution in both aquaculture and wastewater management.
Recommended Citation
Lowery, Michelle C., "Sustainability Practices in Aquaculture: Using Algae Turf Scrubber Biomass to Raise Black Soldier Flies as Alternative Feed in Blue Tilapia, Oreochromis aureus, Culture" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3905. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/3905
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
Appendix Table and Figure Data
BSF_Study_Script.R (87 kB)
Data Analysis R Script
Sample_Analyses_BSF_Nutrition_Study_Edit.csv (1 kB)
Digestibility and Feed analyses
ATS_Data_Raw.csv (11 kB)
ATS Harvest Data
Organism_Data_BSF_Nutrition_Study.csv (11 kB)
Fish Lengths and Widths
Trial_Data_BSF_Nutrition_Study.csv (2 kB)
Digest and Mortality Data
Included in
Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Integrative Biology Commons, Other Animal Sciences Commons, Other Nutrition Commons
