Talukdar Jannat Tamanna Shimul

PhD Candidate

Project: Exploring circular economy pathway in Aquaculture Nutrition: optimizing black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) and macroalgae in Black tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) and Giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) nutrition

In aquaculture feed formulation one of the biggest challenges is to develop sustainable ingredients while fulfilling limiting amino acids requirements. The large-scale demand for fish meal, fish oil, and soybean meal resulted in over-exploitation and skyrocketed price issues due to the finite availability. Hence, the Australian aquaculture industries, especially carnivorous species farms, are facing challenges to enhance productivity and lower operating costs. The project will aim to develop new strategies for alternative ingredients while ensuring sustainability. The project will adopt circular economy approaches such as utilizing waste as a feeding substrate for Black soldier fly and conduct four feeding trials to find out optimum inclusion levels of the test ingredients. At first it will optimize black soldier fly larvae and macroalgae nutritional composition for inclusion in qua feed. Later, the project will evaluate the effect of test diets on production performance and digestive physiology of Black tiger prawn and Giant grouper. The outcome of this project may benefit aquaculture industries in developing balanced diets to achieve high quality prawn and giant grouper production while reducing carbon footprint on the earth.