The objective of this experiment was to investigate black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) oil as a sustainable energy source in broiler diets by comparing its effects with those of soybean oil and tallow. A total of 180 1-d-old broiler chickens were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 dietary treatments with 5 replicates. Each replicate had consisted of 6 male and 6 female birds. Experimental diets were formulated to contain 3% of either soybean oil, tallow, and BSFL oil. These diets were provided on an ad libitum basis for 5 wk. Results indicated that replacing soybean oil and tallow with BSFL oil had no significant effects on growth performance, relative organ weight, stress indicator, liver antioxidant, jejunal morphology, jejunal permeability, and animal welfare assessment among treatment groups. However, broiler chickens fed diets containing BSFL oil and tallow had less (P P P P P P P < 0.05) in the BSFL oil group than in the tallow and soybean oil groups. These results suggest that BSFL oil can be used as an alternative energy source in broiler diets without affecting growth performance, but influencing meat quality and fatty acid profiles.
Lee et al. (Wed,) studied this question.