Investigation into the nutritional value of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) and meal worm (Tenebrio molitor) for broiler chickens

Abdelaal, N.Z.S., 2023. Investigation into the nutritional value of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) and meal worm (Tenebrio molitor) for broiler chickens. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

The aim of this project was to investigate the effect of feeding substrate on nutritional profile of insects, the project also aims to introduce insect larvae meal as an alternative to soyabean meal for poultry production. In addition to that, aims to evaluate the effect of using low doses of insect larvae meal on poultry gut health.

The first study investigated the effect of different feeding waste substrates on mealworm survival rate, substrate use and nutritional profile over two insect feeding trials (T1, and T2). In both trials the type of substrate significantly affected mealworm survival, and protein content, where in T1 trial, mealworm raised on banana peels substrate did not survive the first week of trial with 100% mortality rate recorded at the first week, DDGS substrate on the other hand have positively affected mealworm protein content and yielded 566.2g/kg DM protein. For T2 trial, mealworms fed food waste, sea waste, and sausage waste have yielded, 572.2 g/kg, 635.2 g/kg, 554.5 g/kg protein on dry matter basis respectively. The second study was performed in the form of two trials T3, and T4. T3, and T4 trials investigated the effect of black soldierfly larvae, mealworm larvae graded meal inclusions (20%, 40%, and 60%), both BSFL, and mealworm were raised on different substrates, on the amino acid digestibility, apparent metabolizable energy, and nitrogen retention of broilers against a control soya protein graded inclusion. Different insect feeding substrates have affected the protein content as well as the amino acids content of the insect larvae of both mealworm and BSFL, while the insect larvae meal when fed to broilers, improved amino acid digestibility as broilers fed BSFL raised on fruit waste, bran, and brewery waste showed 94.7%, 89.3%, and 89.3% COD respectively compared to those fed soya bean meal that showed 75.1 COD, while broilers fed mealworm raised on bran and another raised on DDGS showed 94.3%, and 94.9% respectively compared to those fed soyabean meal showed 87.3% COD. However, nitrogen retention values differed between study groups due to the difference in protein content between the investigated larvae meals. The third study meant to investigate the effect of insect meal low doses on broilers performance, digestibility, jejunum histology, metabolizable energy up to 35 days of age. The study was performed over two trials (T5, and T6). In trial T5, three doses of mealworm (0.3%, 1%, and 5%) from EXT source and a 5% mealworm dose from a competitive source (COMP5) were investigated against a 100% soya bean meal diet as control. This study clearly showed that mealworm supplementation had a positive effect on bird performance that showed clearly in increased body weight gain in the first 10 days of the study, where broilers fed 5% mealworm inclusion gained approximately 177 g compared to broilers fed total soyabean inclusion and showed 151g body weight gain. T6 trial investigated the effect of black soldierfly larvae dietary inclusions (0.3%, 1%, and 5%) on the performance, nitrogen digestibility, apparent metabolizable energy, nitrogen retention, and jejunum histology of broilers to 35 days of age. Generally, the results of this trial showed the viability of using BSFL as partial replacement instead of using a complete BSFL meal. It could be concluded from the studies in the current thesis that:

Insects can utilise variety of waste substrates, however, different feeding substrates have different effect on insect nutritional profile, and protein yield. Also, the same substrate can have a different effect on different types of insects.

Insect meal inclusion significantly enhance amino acids digestibility of broilers compared to conventional soyabean inclusion.

Mealworm low dose in the broilers diet up to 5% can increase feed intake and body weight gain of broilers, that showed in T5 study where EXT0.3, and EXT5 increased chicken palatability and that was evidenced through increased feed intake. Therefore, insect meal can be used to replace up to 5% of soya with no deleterious effect on broilers performance or digestibility and therefore can work as alternative protein source to soyabean as direction towards less carbon footprints strategy in poultry sector.

Item Type: Thesis
Creators: Abdelaal, N.Z.S.
Contributors:
NameRoleNTU IDORCID
Burton, E.Thesis supervisorARE3CLARKEJorcid.org/0000-0003-2784-6922
Alkhtib, A.Thesis supervisorAEQ3ASHRAAorcid.org/0000-0002-3381-0304
Hirst, A.Thesis supervisorARE3HIRSTAorcid.org/0000-0001-9132-1886
Date: December 2023
Rights: This work is the intellectual property of the author, you may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level, and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner(s) of the intellectual property rights
Divisions: Schools > School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences
Record created by: Laura Ward
Date Added: 15 Nov 2024 14:56
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2024 14:56
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52579

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