Volume 83, Issue 1, February 2026, Pages 14–21
Abou Traore1, Medard Gbai2, YAO LAURENT ALLA3, and Kouakou YAO4
1 Nangui ABROGOUA University, UFR-Sciences of Nature, Laboratory of Animal Biology and Cytology, 02 BP 801 Abidjan 02, Côte d’Ivoire
2 University of San Pedro, Formation and Research Unit in Agriculture, Fishery Resources and Agro-Industries, BP 1800 San Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire
3 Département aquaculture, Centre de Recherches Océanologiques Bp 18 Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
4 Oceanological Research Center (CRO) of Abidjan, Aquaculture Department, Côte d’Ivoire
Original language: English
Copyright © 2026 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The conclusions of studies on the incorporation of maggot meal in fish feed and its impact on zootechnical parameters are controversial due to the protein content of maggots varying from one author to another. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of maggot protein in the feed on the growth performance of tilapia Oreochromis niloticus fry at the juvenile stage during 75 days of rearing. The study involved the incorporation of maggot protein at different rate into the diet of 0.8 ± 0.1 g Nile tilapia reared in a concrete tank. Three diets (D20, D30 and D40) with maggot protein contents of 20, 30 and 40% respectively, competing with a local industrial reference feed (RD) ALIMPOI, were randomly applied in duplicate to the fish. The initial rationing rate applied was 20% the first month, 15% the second month and 10% the third month. The survival rates (Ts) were 99.89 ± 0.9, 98.96 ± 0.65, 99.59 ± 0.41 and 99.91 ± 0.7% respectively for RD, D20, D30 and D40 diet. The results obtained show that the best growth and feed efficiency performances were obtained with the RD (45.80g) and D40 (44.32g) diets. Maggot protein incorporated at 40% in Nile tilapia feed improves its growth performance (45.80 ± 8.93, 24.73 ± 5.37, 24.75 ± 4.66 and 44.32 ± 7.97 g, respectively for RD, D20, D30 and D40 diets). The use of feed containing maggot meal generated respective production cost reduction rates of 47.53, 53.65 and 64.67% for D20, D30 and D40 compared to the reference feed.
Author Keywords: fish, ciclidae, growth, feeding, fly larvae protein.
Abou Traore1, Medard Gbai2, YAO LAURENT ALLA3, and Kouakou YAO4
1 Nangui ABROGOUA University, UFR-Sciences of Nature, Laboratory of Animal Biology and Cytology, 02 BP 801 Abidjan 02, Côte d’Ivoire
2 University of San Pedro, Formation and Research Unit in Agriculture, Fishery Resources and Agro-Industries, BP 1800 San Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire
3 Département aquaculture, Centre de Recherches Océanologiques Bp 18 Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
4 Oceanological Research Center (CRO) of Abidjan, Aquaculture Department, Côte d’Ivoire
Original language: English
Copyright © 2026 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The conclusions of studies on the incorporation of maggot meal in fish feed and its impact on zootechnical parameters are controversial due to the protein content of maggots varying from one author to another. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of maggot protein in the feed on the growth performance of tilapia Oreochromis niloticus fry at the juvenile stage during 75 days of rearing. The study involved the incorporation of maggot protein at different rate into the diet of 0.8 ± 0.1 g Nile tilapia reared in a concrete tank. Three diets (D20, D30 and D40) with maggot protein contents of 20, 30 and 40% respectively, competing with a local industrial reference feed (RD) ALIMPOI, were randomly applied in duplicate to the fish. The initial rationing rate applied was 20% the first month, 15% the second month and 10% the third month. The survival rates (Ts) were 99.89 ± 0.9, 98.96 ± 0.65, 99.59 ± 0.41 and 99.91 ± 0.7% respectively for RD, D20, D30 and D40 diet. The results obtained show that the best growth and feed efficiency performances were obtained with the RD (45.80g) and D40 (44.32g) diets. Maggot protein incorporated at 40% in Nile tilapia feed improves its growth performance (45.80 ± 8.93, 24.73 ± 5.37, 24.75 ± 4.66 and 44.32 ± 7.97 g, respectively for RD, D20, D30 and D40 diets). The use of feed containing maggot meal generated respective production cost reduction rates of 47.53, 53.65 and 64.67% for D20, D30 and D40 compared to the reference feed.
Author Keywords: fish, ciclidae, growth, feeding, fly larvae protein.
How to Cite this Article
Abou Traore, Medard Gbai, YAO LAURENT ALLA, and Kouakou YAO, “The effect of incorporation of maggot protein in the diet on the zootechnical and financial parameters of tilapia Oreochromis niloticus at the juvenile stage,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 83, no. 1, pp. 14–21, February 2026.
