Ileal digestibility of amino acids in novel organic protein feedstuffs for pigs: Black soldier fly larvae meal(Hermetia illucens)

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Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the standardised ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids in organically produced black soldier fly larvae (Hermeti illucens) meal in growing piglets. The use of Hermetia meal in pig feeding is not allowed for the time being, but feed legislation in the EU concerning the use of Hermetia meal for pigs is in progress.
Two batches of Hermetia meal arrived from Switzerland (FiBL Research Institute of Organic Agriculture). In batch 1, fat was extracted by mechanical extraction and in batch 2 hexane ex-traction was used.The experiment was carried out with a total of 40 growing piglets, 17 gilts and 23 barrows, with the initial body weight of ca. 17 kg. The piglets were distributed in experimen-tal groups from litters of Finnish Landrace or Finnish Yorkshire x Finnish Landrace sows in-seminated with mixed semen from Duroc and Norwegian Landrace crossbred boars. Piglets were first fed in the farrowing pen with organic feed for piglets (period 0). The piglets received the same diet when they were moved to the fattening unit (2piglets/pen) (period 1). Diets were switched to starch based diets for the determination of the SID of amino acids. There were five dietary treatments: 1) low-protein diet to determine basal endogenous losses of amino acids, 2) diet with batch 1 Hermetia meal 10.2%, 3) diet with batch 1 Hermetia meal 20.4%, 4) diet with batch 2 Hermetia meal 9.3%, and 5) diet with batch 2 Hermetia meal 18.6% (of diet DM). Diets in groups 2‒5 contained also 22.85% (of diet DM) whey protein concentrate (WPC) as a protein source. There were 8 pigs per treatment in pair feeding. At the end of the trial, 3.5 h after the morning feeding, the piglets were stunned by bolt pistol, bled and ileal digesta was collected for digestibility determination. Liver, kidneys and empty stomach was weighed and stomach was visually estimated for gastric ulcers.
Hermetia meal batch 1(mechanical fat extraction) contained 629 g crude protein, 185 g crude fat and 51 g ash per kg DM. Corresponding values for Hermetia meal in batch 2 (hexane fat extrac-tion) were 705 g, 90 g and 53 g/kg DM, respectively. There was 31.7 g of lysine, 12.0 g of met-hionine, 3.5 g of cystine and 39.6 g of valine per kg diet DM in Hermetia meal batch 1. Corres-ponding values for Hermetia meal batch 2 were 37.8 g, 14.1 g, 3.7 g and 44.2 g/kg DM, respec-tively.
There were no differences in the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of amino acids in the experi-mental diets between the Hermetia meal inclusion levels or batches. The sex of the piglets did not affect the AID of amino acids in the experimental diets.
The AID and the SID of the amino acids was higher in Hermetia meal batch 1 compared to Hermetia meal batch 2. The AID of essential amino acids varied between 83.1‒93.2% in batch 1 and 61.2‒79.9% in batch 2. The SID of essential amino acids varied between 81.3‒94.8% in batch 1 and 64.0‒81.8% in batch 2. The SID of lysine in Hermetia meal batch 1 was 81.3%, methionine 90.7%, cystine 49.8%, threonine 82.5% and valine 92.9%. Corresponding values for Hermetia meal batch 2 were 77.2%, 81.8%, -10.8%, 64.0% and 73.6%.
Most of the piglets (87.5%) fed low-protein diet had severe gastric lesions in the oesophageal area (grades 2 and 3) which are expected to cause pain and reduce the welfare of the piglets. In diets with Hermetia meal 75‒100% of the piglets had no gastric lesions or the lesions were only minor. Severe gastric lesions were found in less than one third of the piglets fed with Hermetia meal and no grade 3 lesions were found. Feeding Hermetia meal to piglets increased the size of liver and kidneys and the proportion of kidneys in relation to live weight.
Results indicate that the fat extraction method in Hermetia meal affects the AID and the SID of amino acids, as the digestibility values were lower in hexane extracted Hermetia meal compared to mechanically extracted Hermetia meal. Hermetia meal provides highly digestible amino acids, which can improve the amino acid balance in organic feeds for piglets. Hermetia meal could di-versify the protein supply for organic pig production, but the economic aspects of the production of Hermetia meal for pig feeding need to be explored. The fine-grained starch based feeds, espe-cially the low-protein feed used for the determination of the basal endogenous losses of amino acids, caused gastric ulcers for the piglets. The research methods should be developed to mini-mize the disadvantages to animal welfare.

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