The Graded Inclusion of Algae (<i>Spirulina platensis</i>) or Insect (<i>Hermetia illucens</i>) Meal as a Soybean Meal Substitute in Meat Type Chicken Diets Impacts on Growth, Nutrient Deposition and Dietary Protein Quality Depending on the Extent of Amino Acid Supplementation

Abstract

Three consecutive growth experiments were conducted to evaluate growth performance, whole body analyses and protein quality parameters from chicken diets with 50%, 75% and 100% substitution of soybean meal (SBM) by Spirulina meal (SM) or partly defatted Hermetia meal (HM). Each of the experiments was divided into a starter period (1-21 d) and a grower period (22-34 d). One-day-old male growing chickens (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to 48 floor pens making use of 6 birds/pen (Exp.1) or 7 birds/pen (Exp. 2, 3), and the experiments included a control diet (n = 12) and four experimental diets (n = 9). Experiment 1 examined a 50 % replacement of SBM by the alternative proteins under study, both on a basic and an advanced level of amino acid (AA) fortification to meet the recommended ideal amino acid ratio (IAAR). In experiment 2, 75% (starter diet) and 50% (grower diet) replacement of SBM was investigated. Experiment 3 investigated the effects of complete SBM substitution by SM or HM in starter and grower diets. In the second and third experiment diets with both of the alternative proteins and the control diet were AA supplemented to meet the current IAAR. In a further step, the calculated first limiting AA (LAA) was reduced to 80% of its requirement recommendation to allow for further evaluation of the individual AA efficiency according to the "Goettingen approach".

Age and Gender Dependent Deposition of Crude Nutrients and Energy in Fast Growing Meat-Type Chickens

“…All these observations underline the importance of accurately formulating diets to ensure an ideal dietary AA balance according to the real requirement dependent on age and gender. By feeding such diets, the entire growth period of up to 5 weeks lead to male broiler chickens depositing on average between 11 and 13 g protein per day in the whole body [34] [35] [36]. These results as well as the data (6 to 9 g PD per day) derived for the starter period [25] [27] [28] [32] [33] are closely aligned to our estimated values ( Table 2).…”

Effect of Alternative Protein Feeds on the Content of Selected Endogenous Bioactive and Flavour-Related Compounds in Chicken Breast Meat

“…The study was carried out at the Department of Animal Sciences, University of Goettingen, and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Lower Saxony Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES), Germany [9]. The experiment was divided into a starter feeding phase (1-21 d) and a grower feeding phase (22-34 d).…”

“…Breast muscle (M. pectoralis major) samples were vacuum-packed in PA/PE bags and stored at −20 • C until analysis. Full details of the animal and production characteristics and composition of feeds are published in Neumann et al [9] (Experiment 3).…”

“…Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly, HI) larvae and the microalga spirulina (Arthrospira platensis, SP) have shown great potential as possible alternative protein feeds to be used in poultry production [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. For example, the study by Neumann et al reveals how a broiler diet with 100% replacement of soybean meal by HI larvae with a proper amino acid supplementation can result in a superior growth, feed conversion ratio and protein deposition [9]. On the other hand, a dietary substitution with SP and amino acid supplementation only resulted in comparable body weights and a feed conversion ratio similar to that of the SBM control group.…”

“…In the present study, we evaluated the content of the selected compounds in chicken breast originating from previous experimental trials [9], which aimed at investigating the effect of 100% soybean meal substitution with SP and HI on meat quality.…”