The effect of fish and mealworm larvae meals as alternative dietary protein sources on nutrient digestibility and gastrointestinal function in <i>Chinchilla lanigera</i>

Abstract

Chinchillas are herbivores, but wild chinchillas may occasionally consume animal-based foods. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fish meal (FM) and mealworm meal (MWM) included in complete pelleted diets on nutrient digestibility and gastrointestinal function in chinchillas. The experiment was performed on 24 male, divided into three groups, n=8. Control group (C) was fed a diet containing 10% soybean meal (SBM). In the experimental group FM, chinchillas received a diet containing 3% fish meal, and the diet administered to the experimental group MWM was supplemented with 4% dried mealworm larvae meal. The nutrient digestibility of diets was determined. At the end of the experiment animals were euthanized and their digestive tracts were removed to analyze gut activity. FM group animals were characterized by lower crude fat digestibility, whereas both alternative protein sources improved the digestibility of acid detergent fiber (ADF). A considerable increase in the activity of cecal intracellular and extracellular bacterial enzymes (in particular β-glucosidase, β-galactosidase and β-xylosidase) was noted in the FM group, which however did not increase the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). The inclusion of MWM in chinchilla diets shifted the bacterial fermentation site from the cecum (lowest SCFA pool) to the colon (highest SCFA pool), thus enabling to derive additional energy from less digestible dietary components. In conclusion, chinchilla diets can be supplemented with small amounts of animal protein such as fish meal and dried mealworm larvae meal.

Nutritional composition of various insects and potential uses as alternative protein sources in animal diets

“…The gut morphometric index and organ histopathology were not affected by the addition of house fly and mealworm fat diets. Similar results were reported by Gugołek et al [54] who showed supplementation of fish meal and mealworm MW meal had no considerable variation in the digestibilitiesdigestibility of DM, organic matterOM, total energy, total protein, and NDF between the treatments and the control 서식 있음: 글꼴: 굵게, 기울임꼴 없음…”

“…group. However, it should be noted that total protein digestion was higher in groups control and mealworm than in the fish meal group [54]. An enzymatic method was used to analyze total protein digestibility of Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens in-vitro digestion experiment.…”

Medical Image Recognition Technology in the Effect of Substituting Soybean Meal for Fish Meal on the Diversity of Intestinal Microflora in Channa argus

“…Human vision has natural limitations. In some application scenarios, machine vision has advantages over human physiological vision, which is more accurate, objective, and stable [ 17 , 18 ].…”

The effect of dietary supplementation with silkworm pupae meal on gastrointestinal function, nitrogen retention and blood biochemical parameters in rabbits

“…The activity of the above enzymes is associated with important physiological processes such as starch hydrolysis (α-glucosidase), hydrolysis of non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) and degradation of cellulose (β-glucosidase), utilization of raffinose-family oligosaccharides (α-galactosidase), degradation of NSPs present in both cereals and protein sources used in this study, namely arabinans containing terminal arabinofuranoses as well as internal arabinopyranoses (both arabinosidases) [ 38 , 39 ]. It should be noted that similar increasing and decreasing trends in bacterial enzyme activity in the colonic digesta, induced by dietary supplementation with 4% mealworm larvae meal, were observed in chinchillas [ 29 ].…”

“…Therefore, the administered feed contained only 0.12% chitin. In a study of another herbivorous species, the chinchilla, diets supplemented with 4% dried mealworm (Tenebrio molitor ) larvae meal had no influence on the digestibility of DM, organic matter, total protein, NDF and energy, but they improved the digestibility of ether extract, ADF and ADL [ 29 ]. Martins et al [ 30 ] and Gasco et al [ 26 ] found that black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens L.) larvae fat and mealworm fat had no adverse effects on nutrient digestibility in rabbits.…”