Introduction: There is an ongoing interest of non-specialists and researchers concerning the use of insects as alternative ingredient in animal feed being rich in protein, amino acids, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and trace elements. In broiler chickens, soybean and fish meal have been successfully replaced at low inclusion levels by black soldier flies, housefly, yellow mealworms (TM) and silkworm pupae (Makkar et al., 2014). Material and methods: A total of 160 male and 160 female broiler chicks (Ross 708) at one-day of age were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatments (for each sex), each consisting of 5 pens as replicates with 8 chicks in each pen. The group without TM was the control group and the 5, 10, 15 % TM supplementation as a partial replacement of soybean meal and soybean oil formed the treatment groups (TM5, TM10 and TM15). For each treatment, diets were split in three phases: a starter diet, from day 1 to day 12, a grower diet, from day 13 to day 25 and a finisher diet, from day 26 to the end of the trial. Isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated using AMEn values calculated for broiler chickens by our research group. The animals were fed ad libitum up to the slaughter age that was 40 days for female and 53 days for male. Feed consumption (FC), body weight (BW), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were determined for each diet phase and for the full trial. At day 40 and 53, 10 broilers (2 birds/pen) from each feeding group were chosen on the basis of the mean body weight, and their dissection was made in order to determine their carcass dressing percentage. Statistical differences were tested by one-way ANOVA, followed by Duncan's post-hoc test. Significance was declared at P<0.05. Results and discussion: In females, TM5 displayed higher final BW than other groups (P<0.01). The same trend was observed for the DWG. TM5 was higher (P<0.05) than other groups both for 26 to 40 and 1 to 40 days periods. TM groups displayed higher FC (P<0.05) than C group both for 1 to 12 and 13 to 25 days periods. Nevertheless, FCR were not influenced by the treatments. As in female, also in male chicks, TM5 showed the highest final BW (P<0.05). Overall, TM groups reported higher FC (P<0.05) than C groups for 1 to 12 days, 13 to 25 days and also for 1 to 53 days. In male, FCR (26 to 53 and 1 to 53 days periods) showed the worst value (P<0.05) in TM15. Carcass yields, both for male and female, were not influenced by inclusion of TM in the diets. Conclusion: TM is a valuable ingredient for broiler, mainly for its palatability. In this study, 5% of TM has proven to be a suitable inclusion by improving or without affecting growth and slaughter performance. Particularly, in female TM5 had an high impact on their growth performances, by increasing final BW, average FC without affecting FCR. All these findings, confirmed that TM could be used to replace conventional broiler feed ingredients. References: Makkar, H.P.S., G. Tran, V. Heuzé, and P. Ankers. 2014. Review: State-of-the-art on use of insects as animal feed. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 197:1-33.
Effect of replacing soybean meal and soybean oil with yellow mealworm in the diets of broilers
Gai F;Pozzo L;
2015
Abstract
Introduction: There is an ongoing interest of non-specialists and researchers concerning the use of insects as alternative ingredient in animal feed being rich in protein, amino acids, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and trace elements. In broiler chickens, soybean and fish meal have been successfully replaced at low inclusion levels by black soldier flies, housefly, yellow mealworms (TM) and silkworm pupae (Makkar et al., 2014). Material and methods: A total of 160 male and 160 female broiler chicks (Ross 708) at one-day of age were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatments (for each sex), each consisting of 5 pens as replicates with 8 chicks in each pen. The group without TM was the control group and the 5, 10, 15 % TM supplementation as a partial replacement of soybean meal and soybean oil formed the treatment groups (TM5, TM10 and TM15). For each treatment, diets were split in three phases: a starter diet, from day 1 to day 12, a grower diet, from day 13 to day 25 and a finisher diet, from day 26 to the end of the trial. Isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated using AMEn values calculated for broiler chickens by our research group. The animals were fed ad libitum up to the slaughter age that was 40 days for female and 53 days for male. Feed consumption (FC), body weight (BW), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were determined for each diet phase and for the full trial. At day 40 and 53, 10 broilers (2 birds/pen) from each feeding group were chosen on the basis of the mean body weight, and their dissection was made in order to determine their carcass dressing percentage. Statistical differences were tested by one-way ANOVA, followed by Duncan's post-hoc test. Significance was declared at P<0.05. Results and discussion: In females, TM5 displayed higher final BW than other groups (P<0.01). The same trend was observed for the DWG. TM5 was higher (P<0.05) than other groups both for 26 to 40 and 1 to 40 days periods. TM groups displayed higher FC (P<0.05) than C group both for 1 to 12 and 13 to 25 days periods. Nevertheless, FCR were not influenced by the treatments. As in female, also in male chicks, TM5 showed the highest final BW (P<0.05). Overall, TM groups reported higher FC (P<0.05) than C groups for 1 to 12 days, 13 to 25 days and also for 1 to 53 days. In male, FCR (26 to 53 and 1 to 53 days periods) showed the worst value (P<0.05) in TM15. Carcass yields, both for male and female, were not influenced by inclusion of TM in the diets. Conclusion: TM is a valuable ingredient for broiler, mainly for its palatability. In this study, 5% of TM has proven to be a suitable inclusion by improving or without affecting growth and slaughter performance. Particularly, in female TM5 had an high impact on their growth performances, by increasing final BW, average FC without affecting FCR. All these findings, confirmed that TM could be used to replace conventional broiler feed ingredients. References: Makkar, H.P.S., G. Tran, V. Heuzé, and P. Ankers. 2014. Review: State-of-the-art on use of insects as animal feed. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 197:1-33.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
