Black soldier fly larvae meal and fat can completely replace soybean cake and oil in diets for laying hens

Heuel, M.; Sandrock, C.; Leiber, F.; Mathys, A.; Gold, M.; Zurbrügg, C.; Gangnat, Isabelle Diane Marie; Kreuzer, M.; Terranova, M. (2021). Black soldier fly larvae meal and fat can completely replace soybean cake and oil in diets for laying hens Poultry Science, 100(4), p. 101034. Elsevier 10.1016/j.psj.2021.101034

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Currently, there is a great interest in finding alternative protein and energy sources to replace soybean-based feeds in poultry diets. The main objective of the present study was to completely replace soybean in layer diets with defatted meal and fat from black soldier fly larvae without adverse effects. For this purpose, 5 × 10 Lohmann Brown Classic hens were fed either a soybean-based diet or diets based on defatted black soldier fly larvae meal and fat from 2 producers (1 commercial, 1 small-scale) operating with different rearing substrates, temperatures, and larvae processing methods (10 hens/diet). The data obtained included nutrient composition of larvae meals and diets, amino acid digestibility (6 hens/diet), and metabolizability, performance and egg quality (all 10 hens/diet). In addition, the acceptance of the 4 larvae-based diets was tested against the soybean-based diet in a 6-day choice feeding situation (10 hens/treatment). The nutritional value of the larvae-based diets was equivalent to the soybean-based diet in hens with a laying performance of 98%. Although average feed intake was not significantly different over the 7 experimental weeks, the diets based on larvae feeds from the small-scale production appeared to be slightly less accepted in a choice situation than the soy-based diet and those with larvae from commercial origin. This was more likely the effect of the larvae fat rather than that of the larvae protein meal. In addition, the commercial larvae material was superior to that from the small-scale production concerning supply with digestible sulfur-containing amino acids (548 vs. 511 mg/day) and lysine (792 vs. 693 mg/day), egg weight (67 vs. 63 g), daily egg mass (66 vs. 61 g/day) and, in tendency, feed efficiency. The results indicate that soybean-based feeds can be replaced completely by black soldier fly meal and fat in diets of high-performing layers. However, because of nutritional differences between the larvae materials of different origin the quality of the larvae has to be closely monitored before being used.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture > Livestock and Horses
Name:	Heuel, M.; Sandrock, C.; Leiber, F.; Mathys, A.; Gold, M.; Zurbrügg, C.; Gangnat, Isabelle Diane Marie; Kreuzer, M. and Terranova, M.
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
ISSN:	00325791
Publisher:	Elsevier
Language:	English
Submitter:	Isabelle Diane Marie Gangnat
Date Deposited:	22 Dec 2021 09:59
Last Modified:	22 Dec 2021 09:59
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/j.psj.2021.101034
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Hermetia illucens, defatted larvae meal, layer, feed acceptance, performance
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.16063
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/16063