The unbridled increasing price of feed ingredients especially the conventional protein sources is a great challenge to profitability in poultry industry. To overcome this issue, insect meals like black soldier fly (BSF) are one of these alternative protein sources. This study is aimed at the production and characterization of Black soldier fly larva meal on harvest age and processing method as a potential alternative protein source for fishmeal in broiler chicken diets. Taking advantage of the study of a life cycle of insects, BSF pupae was procured, conditioned and allowed to pupate to larvae. The BSF laid eggs and the eggs were further favourably conditioned to hatch to larvae (BSFL). The larvae were harvested at two (2) different ages (day 8 and 12), and samples from each age of harvest were divided into two (2) and process independently by sun drying and roasting. The four (4) samples were milled to meals (BSFLM) and presented for chemical analysis. The best meal in optimal protein retention was identified and combined with a procured Fish meal (FM) whose proximate composition and amino acid profile had been determined to form a blend (FM:BSFLM% ; 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75). The proximate composition of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae meal was significantly influenced by both the age at harvest and the processing method, as well as their interaction. Also, the comparison between the proximate composition of FM and BSFLM showed that FM had a significantly higher crude protein content (66.87%) compared to BSFLM (34.82%). FM is numerically higher in ASH and conversely lower in NFE (3.39%), Crude fibre (0.56%), Fat (10.62) and Moisture (10.34%) compared to BSFLM; 33.21, 1.20, 16.43 and 10.69% respectively. Further studies to corroborate the effect of dietary BSF on growth performance, carcass characteristics, gut morphology and caecum microbiota are required to standardize the inclusion levels in feeds for higher performance of poultry.
Modupe et al. (Wed,) studied this question.