Effect of feeding larvae meal in the diets on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and meat quality in broiler chicken

Abstract

Larvae meal has been reported as a suitable alternative protein source to fish meal and soybean meal. It contains necessary essential amino acids required in poultry feeding. A feeding trial was conducted to assess the effects of feeding different levels of larvae meal on broiler performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass and meat quality, and bacterial count. Day-old male broiler chicks (216) were raised for 42 days. Birds were weighed and randomly allotted into 6 dietary treatments consisting of 6 replicates (pens) per treatment and 6 birds in each replicate. The dietary treatments were supplemented with earth larvae meal by 0% (control group), 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10%. The feed and drinking water were provided ad lib. The findings showed that body weight, average daily gain and total weight gain for group of birds fed 0% larvae meal significantly decreased compared to those chickens fed 8% and 10% larvae meal. A higher crude protein digestibility was found in birds fed with larvae meal. Control group had the highest Enterobacteriaceae count compared to the other treatments. Larvae meal supplementation improved the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and meat quality of broiler chicken and decreased excreta Enterobacteriaceae counts.

A Review of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as a Potential Alternative Protein Source in Broiler Diets

“…Likewise, the inclusion of 5, 10, or 15% BSFPM did not affect carcass and thigh yields but rather reduced the breast yield in broiler chickens (Pieterse et al, 2019). Kareem et al (2018) reported no effect of increasing dietary BSFLM (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10%) on breast yield of broiler chickens. Consistent with these findings, Uushona (2015) reported no effect of dietary 0, 5, 10, or 15% BSFPM on carcass, breast, and thigh yields of broiler chicken.…”

“…Replacement of dietary 2, 4, 6, and 8% fish meal with BSF maggot meal (BSFMM) in broiler chickens from 14 to 56 days improved the feed conversion ratio (FCR), increased the body weight gain (BWG), and reduced the feed intake (FI) compared to the control diet (Attivi et al, 2020). Use of dietary 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10% BSFLM in broiler chickens improved the FCR, increased the BWG, and suppressed the FI in 8% of BSFLM group (Kareem et al, 2018). Broiler chickens consuming 2% defrosted BSF larvae (BSFL) for 13 days reduced the FCR without affecting the BWG (Moula et al, 2018a).…”

Fat digestion and metabolism: effect of different fat sources and fat mobilisers in broilers’ diet on growth performance and physiological parameters – A review

“…The latter thus confirms that fats rich in unsaturated fatty acids lead to an increased β-oxidation and reduction of fat deposition in broilers. In addition to the macronutrients, a variety of dietary supplements such as L-carnitine, polyphenols and probiotics or larvae meal have been reported to affect the fat metabolism in broilers (Fouad and El-Senousey, 2014;Kareem et al, 2018).…”