Complete replacement of soybean meal with black soldier fly larvae meal in feeding program for broiler chickens from placement through to 49 days of age reduced growth performance and altered organs morphology

Effects of partial or complete replacement of soybean meal with commercial black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) meal on growth performance, cecal short chain fatty acids, and excreta metabolome of broiler chickens

“…Consistent with previous studies, and reconfirmed here, a dose-response effect of including BSFLM in poultry diets was observed, with high levels of BSFLM negatively impacting poultry performance ( Marono et al, 2017 ; Dabbou et al, 2018 ; Cutrignelli et al, 2018 ; Murawska et al, 2021 ; Facey et al, 2023 ). The cause(s) of the growth depressive effects of high levels of BSFLM (≥50%) have yet-to-be elucidated ( Borrelli et al, 2017 ; Marono et al, 2017 ; Cutrignelli et al, 2018 ), although several theories have been postulated.…”

“…Indeed, this was the conclusion of a recent study, published while this manuscript was being prepared, demonstrating that substitution of SBM with BSFLM at 12.5 or 25% fortified with black soldier fly oil could provide some growth-promoting effects in broilers in a similar manner as broilers fed BMD and narasin ( Facey et al, 2023 ). Importantly, black soldier fly oil has been shown to harbor antimicrobial properties ( Dabboo et al, 2020 ; Sypniewski et al, 2020 ) and thus, it is unclear if the oil or meal alone or a combination of both were responsible for the observed growth enhancing effects in that study ( Facey et al, 2023 ). In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that BSFLM alone, at a substitution level of ≤25%, is sufficient to confer growth enhancing effects in broilers during the starter phase.…”

“…Arginine is considered the fifth limiting AA for broiler chickens and also plays an important role in broiler growth ( Kidd et al, 2001 ; Portocarero and Braun, 2021 ) and immunity ( Lee et al, 2002 ). Intriguingly, Facey et al (2023) demonstrated that diets containing 25, 50, and 100% BSFLM were deficient in the AA, arginine, and this deficiency increased as the levels of BSFLM increased. Importantly, this negatively impacted the arginine: lysine ratios to levels that were below the NRC recommendations of 0.9 to 1.18 in diets containing 100% BSFLM for all three phases, and in diets containing 25 and 50% BSFLM for the starter and finisher phases ( Facey et al, 2023 ).…”

“…In a recent study, BMD at 55 ppm was shown to significantly enhance growth and performance parameters of floor-cage raised birds during the starter and grower phases ( Li et al, 2022 ). BMD at 55 ppm was also shown to improve the overall body weight gain and the feed conversion ratio of pen-raised broilers ( Facey et al, 2023 ). High concentrations of in-feed BMD (500 ppm) have been shown to enhance BW in cage-raised birds during the grower and finisher phases, but not during the starter phase ( Rivera-Pérez et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Still, there is a dearth of broiler studies directly comparing the functional attributes of different substitution levels of SBM with commercially processed BSFLM to gold-standard performance enhancing feed additives, such as BMD. During the preparation of this manuscript, another study was published demonstrating that substitution of SBM with low amounts of BSFLM fortified with black soldier fly oil could provide some performance enhancing effects in broilers in a manner comparable to broilers fed a conventional corn-SBM diet supplemented with the AGPs, BMD and narasin (narasin, which is mainly used as a coccidiostat also has growth promoting properties in broilers [Plata et al, 2022] ) ( Facey et al, 2023 ). Still, it is unclear if BSFLM alone (i.e., no oil) was responsible for the growth enhancing effects observed in that study.…”