Effects of black soldier fly meal in poultry and fish diets on performance and product quality

Summary in the original language of the document

Insect-based protein meals are in discussion as sustainable components in livestock and fish diets, with a potential to recycle wasted food materials and to replace partly feeds from arable land. Black Soldier Fly (BSF; Hermetia Illucens) is of particular interest in this context. Since insect production for animal feed appears as an additional trophic level in the food chain, it should either base on substrates, which are not directly edible for livestock and fish, or significantly improve feed efficiency or product quality to justify its application. Feed efficiency and product quality after replacing conventional protein sources by BSF meal were therefore tested in recent experiments with layers, broilers and trout. In a layer experiment, respectively four groups of 10 hens were fed either a control diet, a diet containing 12g/100g or a diet with 24g/100g defatted Hermetia meal for four weeks. Neither laying performance nor feed efficiency (g/g egg weight) nor egg composition differed by diet. In a fattening experiment with 15 broilers per group the partial replacement of soybean meal by mixtures of either alfalfa or peas with Hermetia meal (7.8g/100g Hermetia) did neither affect weight gains nor carcass weights compared to a control diet. Compared on a group level, neither feed intake nor feed efficiency differed with the diets. Also weights of meat cuts, shear force and meat colour were not affected by diet. Only cooking loss increased in meat from broilers provided with the Hermetia-pea mixture (p>0.001). In a further feeding trial, young rainbow trout (body weight 67 to 125g) were fed for 7 weeks with either a usual control diet or a feed, where 46% of the fishmeal was replaced by Hermetia meal. Initial and final body mass were equal with both diets and no differences were found for growth rate, weight gain. Chemical fish composition was not affected. A degustation panel did not reveal differences in taste odour or texture of the trout filets. If also in future no advantageous effects of feeding Hermetia meal on performance, feed efficiency or product quality would be found, production of BSF should prove sustainability in itself to justify its use as animal feed component.