Black soldier fly larvae meal and fat as a replacement for soybeans in organic broiler diets: effects on performance, body N retention, carcase and meat quality

Figures & data

Table 1. Ingredient composition (g/kg DM) of the 5 different experimental diets.

Diet^1	SS	SS-	AA-	AB-	BB-
Soybean cake	250	200	−	−	−
Soybean oil	20	20	−	−	−
Defatted larvae meal A	−	−	200	200	−
Defatted larvae meal B	−	−	−	−	200
Larvae fat A	−	−	20	−	−
Larvae fat B	−	−	−	20	−
Wheat	280	330	280	280	280
Maize	180	210	200	200	200
Broken rice	89	92	120	120	120
Wheat bran	100	100	100	100	100
Maize gluten meal	33	−	−	−	25
Oat hulls	−	−	39	39	29
Calcium carbonate	22	22	15	15	20
Sodium bicarbonate	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	3.5
Sodium chloride	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0
Vitamin and trace elements premix^2	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Vitamin B2 supplement^3	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Celite^4	15	15	15	15	15

¹SS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B.

²Contains per kg: ZnO, 6.0 g; FeSO₄, 8.3 g; CuSO₄ 5H₂O, 8.3 g; MnO₂, 6.0 g; MnSO₄, 5.6 g; Ca(IO₃)₂, 0.16 g; Na₂SeO₃, 20 mg; inactivated selenium yeast, 20 mg; vitamin B₁, 360 mg; vitamin B₆, 700 mg; vitamin B₁₂, 3.6 mg; vitamin K₃, 700 mg; vitamin E, 8.0 g; vitamin D₃, 400,000 IE; vitamin A, 2,000,000 IE; niacin, 7.5 g; folic acid, 0.19 g; biotin, 40 mg; panthotenic acid, 2.0 g.

³Contains per kg: vitamin B₂, 1.33 g.

⁴No. 545, acid-washed diatomaceous earth (Schneider Dämmtechnik, Winterthur, Switzerland).

Table 2. Analysed chemical composition of the soybean cake, the two larvae meals and the five experimental diets used (g/kg DM unless stated otherwise).

	Soybean cake	BSFL meal^a		Diet^b
Item		A	B	SS	SS-	AA-	AB-	BB-
DM in original substance	885	952	937	887	880	885	894	885
Organic matter	868	867	884	808	806	810	820	815
Nitrogen	78.2	96.7	79.9	34.1	28.6	32.3	32.4	31.3
Amino acids
Lysine	30.29	32.07	23.62	10.32	8.21	8.53	9.03	7.53
Methionine	6.89	9.52	7.90	3.52	2.78	3.27	3.40	3.45
Cysteine + methionine	14.02	13.69	11.06	7.27	5.87	5.74	5.89	6.01
Contents determined (% reduction from the recommendations)^c
Lysine				1.2	−19.5	−16.4	−11.5	−26.1
Methionine				−23.4	−39.5	−28.9	−26.2	−24.9
Cysteine + methionine				−9.10	−26.6	−28.2	−26.4	−24.9
Ether extract	83.2	133	299	56.9	55.8	59.5	57.3	75.7
Chitin	n.a.^d	74.4	69.5	−^e	−	19.9	17.6	16.6
Phosphorus	7.80	12.11	6.75	6.65	5.68	6.22	6.60	5.76
Calcium	3.16	16.43	9.54	13.9	12.4	11.9	11.5	11.1
Magnesium	0.68	0.62	0.55	0.79	0.68	0.68	0.67	0.68
Chloride	n.a.	3.40	4.13	1.57	1.69	2.24	2.23	1.68
Sodium	n.a.	1.30	1.42	1.46	1.47	1.68	1.67	1.79
Amino acids (g/kg total amino acids)
Alanine	43.8	74.4	81.9	50.8	47.9	65.6	66.3	69.2
Arginine	53.7	52.1	49.6	65.6	68.7	56.9	56.6	53.7
Asparagine/aspartic acid	114.9	101.1	96.5	93.4	92.1	86.9	88.8	81.8
Cysteine	14.8	7.9	7.5	17.9	18.9	14.6	14.2	14.9
Glutamine/glutamic acid	186.7	119.3	117.3	206.9	210.4	170.0	167.1	180.5
Glycine	43.8	60.1	61.8	42.9	45.9	54.9	55.1	51.4
Histidine	26.8	32.9	29.9	26.0	26.9	30.4	30.6	27.9
Isoleucine	47.8	48.9	49.9	44.0	43.1	44.1	43.3	42.5
Leucine	77.4	73.5	74.4	87.4	79.8	78.9	77.3	85.7
Lysine	63.1	60.6	55.7	49.3	50.3	50.2	51.2	44.0
Methionine	14.4	18.0	18.6	16.8	17.1	19.2	19.3	20.2
Phenylalanine	52.0	44.7	44.0	51.6	49.7	46.6	47.1	47.6
Proline	51.8	61.1	67.6	65.5	67.0	69.8	67.5	74.9
Serine	49.4	44.9	45.7	47.6	47.4	44.3	45.1	46.0
Threonine	39.3	43.1	43.9	36.6	36.3	38.4	39.9	38.9
Tryptophan	13.9	17.3	17.1	12.7	14.0	15.8	16.5	14.4
Tyrosine	34.8	71.9	68.5	34.9	33.9	50.9	52.3	46.7
Valine	50.6	68.1	69.9	50.1	50.7	62.4	61.9	59.9
Gross energy (Mcal/kg DM)	5.04	5.37	6.07	4.40	4.30	4.44	4.42	4.51
Colour of the feeds
Lightness (L*)	70.3	42.9	30.4	68.6	67.2	53.3	54.1	53.5
Redness (a*)	2.27	5.37	6.31	3.01	3.03	4.15	4.05	4.03
Yellowness (b*)	27.8	17.7	9.0	17.3	17.0	9.13	9.28	8.91

^aLarvae meal A was produced on wheat bran and wheat distillery solubles; larvae meal B was produced on fruit and vegetable raw wastes (with seasonal variations), brewer’s grains, and pasta production wastes.

^bSS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B.

^cRecommendations taken from the breeder’s guidelines (Hubbard 2019).

^dNot analysed.

^eNot detected/not calculated.

Table 3. Analysed fatty acid composition (% of total fatty acid methyl esters) of the main energy source and the experimental diets.

	Soybean	BSFL fat^1		Diet^2
Item	Oil	A	B	SS	SS-	AA-	AB-	BB-
C10:0	−	0.98	0.86	0.07	−	0.67	0.62	0.64
C12:0	−	42.1	39.7	0.10	0.09	28.2	26.6	29.6
C14:0	0.08	8.42	9.19	0.11	0.11	5.88	5.85	6.52
iso-C14:0	−	−	−	−	−	0.06	0.06	0.04
C15:0	0.03	0.17	0.21	0.04	0.04	0.16	0.17	0.17
C16:0	11.0	12.3	16.9	12.5	12.9	13.7	14.9	15.8
iso-C16:0	−	0.32	0.41	−	−	0.25	0.27	0.31
C17:0	0.09	0.17	0.16	0.10	0.10	0.19	0.18	0.14
C18:0	3.89	1.95	3.21	3.58	3.57	2.02	2.34	2.58
C20:0	0.38	0.10	0.10	0.39	0.40	0.17	0.18	0.16
C21:0	−	−	−	0.05	0.05	−	−	−
C22:0	0.45	0.03	0.02	0.36	0.38	0.09	0.09	0.08
C24:0	0.15	0.01	−	0.20	0.21	0.09	0.09	0.08
C12:1	−	0.02	0.02	−	−	0.03	0.03	0.03
C14:1	−	0.15	0.24	−	−	0.12	0.14	0.16
C15:1	−	−	−	0.03	0.06	0.06	0.06	0.03
C16:1	0.09	0.06	0.08	0.03	0.02	−	−	−
C16:1 n-7	−	1.98	2.55	0.12	0.12	1.55	1.67	1.79
C17:1	0.05	0.08	0.11	0.06	−	−	−	−
C22:1	−	−	−	0.02	0.02	0.03	0.03	0.03
C22:2	0.05	−	−	0.06	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.02
9-C18:1	21.0	13.3	15.6	22.2	22.7	16.1	17.1	17.2
11-C18:1	1.45	0.42	0.39	1.21	1.23	0.58	0.59	0.46
t10-C18:1	−	0.05	0.13	−	−	0.04	0.04	0.06
t11-C18:1	−	0.05	0.11	−	0.02	0.03	0.05	0.08
C18:2 n-6	52.6	14.6	7.73	52.5	51.9	26.6	25.6	21.4
9/t11-C18:2	−	0.79	0.42	−	−	0.60	0.50	0.28
9/11-C18:2	−	0.35	0.05	−	−	−	−	−
t9/t 11C18:2	−	0.08	0.05	−	−	0.18	0.09	0.03
C18:3 n-3	8.23	1.19	1.03	5.79	5.51	1.85	1.87	1.62
C18:3 n-6	−	0.01	0.03	−	0.03	−	−	−
C20:1 n-9	0.23	0.12	0.08	0.30	0.32	0.26	0.25	0.19
C20:1 n-7	0.03	0.06	−	−	−	−	−	−
C20:2 n-6	0.06	−	−	0.04	0.02	0.07	0.07	0.03
C20:4 n-6	−	0.02	0.22	−	−	−	0.06	0.15
C20:5 n-3	−	0.02	0.09	0.02	−	−	−	−
C24:1 n-9	−	−	−	0.02	−	−	−	−
Σ Saturated FA	16.1	66.5	70.7	17.6	17.9	51.7	51.6	56.2
Σ Monounsaturated FA	22.9	16.5	19.7	24.1	24.6	18.9	20.1	20.2
Σ Polyunsaturated FA	60.9	17.0	9.65	58.4	57.5	29.4	28.3	23.6
Σ n-3 FA	8.23	1.21	1.15	5.81	5.51	1.86	1.88	1.63
Σ n-6 FA	52.7	14.6	7.97	52.5	51.9	26.7	25.8	21.6
n-6:n-3 FA ratio	6.40	12.1	6.96	9.03	9.42	14.4	13.7	13.3

−, not detected

¹Larvae fat A was produced on wheat bran and wheat distillery solubles; larvae fat B was produced on fruit and vegetable raw wastes (with seasonal variations), brewer’s grains, and pasta production wastes.

²SS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B.

Table 4. Effect of the five experimental diets on performance¹ (n = 8 pens per treatment with two broilers each except for BW and ADG, where individual data are based on n = 16 per diet (n = 15 in case of SS)) and body retention (n = 8 per diet; n = 7 in case of SS).

Diet^2	SS	SS-	AA-	AB-	BB-	SEM	P-value
BW (g)
Day 1	37	37	37	38	37	0.6	0.499
After 2 weeks	213	211	212	212	211	4.3	0.996
After 9 weeks	1558^a	1219^b	1575^a	1520^a	1197^b	51.8	<0.001
ADG (g/day and head)	27.1^a	20.4^b	27.5^a	26.4^a	19.9^b	0.99	<0.001
Intake
Total diet (g/d and head)	71.6^a	63.7^b	77.5^a	76.0^a	60.5^b	1.71	<0.001
Lysine (mg/d and head)	646^a	460^b	585^a	614^a	403^b	20.1	<0.001
Methionine (mg/d and head)	220^a	156^b	224^a	231^a	185^b	7.4	<0.001
Cysteine (mg/d and head)	235^a	173^b	170^b	170^b	137^c	6.5	<0.001
Feed efficiency (g/g ADG)	2.69^b	3.18^a	2.84^ab	2.91^ab	3.07^a	0.091	0.003
ADWI^3 (ml/day and head)	148^a	122^bc	131^ab	131^ab	108^c	5.1	<0.001
Metabolisability (%)^4
Nitrogen	63.3^a	60.6^ab	58.1^bc	55.6^c	58.2^bc	0.75	<0.001
Energy	77.5^a	77.5^a	76.7^ab	75.5^b	78.1^a	0.39	<0.001
Whole-body composition (per kg BW)
Nitrogen (g)	32.0	33.7	31.8	32.7	30.0	1.84	0.642
Energy (Mcal)	2.07	2.28	2.47	2.41	2.33	0.111	0.119
Body retention (week 1 through week 9)
Nitrogen (g)	46.8^ab	38.8^bc	49.1^a	48.7^ab	35.3^c	2.64	<0.001
Energy (Mcal)	2.95^abc	2.54^c	3.71^a	3.48^ab	2.63^bc	0.213	0.001

^a-cValues in the same row with different superscript are significantly different (P < 0.05).

¹All data except BW and metabolisability refer to the feeding period from week 3 through week 9.

²SS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B.

³Average daily water intake.

⁴Calculated as outlined by Vukić Vranješ, Pfirter, and Wenk (1994) for indicator techniques and measured in week 4.

Figure 1. Weight development of the five dietary treatment groups (means ± SD) (SS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B) during experimental week 3 to 9 (n = 16, except n = 15 for group SS).

Table 5. Effect of the five experimental diets on the characteristics of carcases and breast meat (n = 8/diet).

Diet^1	SS	SS-	AA-	AB-	BB-	SEM	P-value
Carcase
BW at slaughter (g)	1609^a	1245^b	1572^a	1573^a	1171^b	78.8	<0.001
Carcase weight (g)	1104^a	841^b	1075^a	1079^a	784^b	55.0	<0.001
Dressing percentage^2	68.6	67.4	68.3	68.8	66.9	0.56	0.124
Breast meat
g/bird	222^a	143^b	190^a	191^a	138^b	10.3	<0.001
g/kg carcase	203^a	170^b	176^b	178^b	177^b	5.1	<0.001
Skin colour^4
L*	63.2	65.6	63.9	64.1	62.4	1.23	0.458
a*	−0.36	0.63	−0.03	−0.48	−0.72	0.389	0.152
b*	4.88^ab	2.41^b	3.46^b	2.43^b	7.94^a	0.978	0.001
Meat
Colour^3
L*	59.8	61.0	58.6	59.8	62.7	1.33	0.264
a*	0.25	1.46	1.45	0.75	0.72	0.458	0.295
b*	8.15^b	6.82^bc	6.07 ^cd	5.04^d	10.57^a	0.429	<0.001
pH (24 h p.m.)	5.61	5.62	5.64	5.61	5.57	0.032	0.598
Thaw loss (%)	5.22	6.28	5.02	5.72	7.25	0.558	0.053
Cooking loss (%)	14.3^b	15.9^ab	14.4^ab	15.3^ab	17.2^a	0.69	0.033
Maximal shear force (N)^4	12.8^ab	12.1^b	12.9^ab	13.1^ab	15.2^a	0.75	0.064
Proximate composition (g/kg meat)
Moisture	723	734	740	724	736	8.3	0.514
Nitrogen	37.9	36.7	35.3	37.9	35.2	1.14	0.289
Fat	5.27	8.75	8.63	9.50	8.37	1.131	0.101
Cholesterol	0.33	0.36	0.33	0.33	0.37	0.113	0.033

^a-dValues in the same row with different superscript are significantly different (P < 0.05).

¹SS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B.

²Dressing percentage = carcase weight in % of BW at slaughter.

³L* is defined as the brightness from black (0) to white (100), a* as the green (-) to red (+) axis, and b* as the blue (-) to yellow (+) axis.

⁴As determined by the Volodkevich device.

Table 6. Effect of the five experimental diets on the fatty acid composition of the intramuscular fat (% of total FAME; n = 8/diet).

Diet^1	SS	SS-	AA-	AB-	BB-	SEM	P-value
C10:0	0.03^c	0.02^c	0.11^a	0.08^b	0.09^ab	0.005	<0.001
C12:0	0.09^c	0.12^c	7.37^a	6.09^b	6.96^a	0.199	<0.001
C14:0	0.35^c	0.35^c	2.92^b	2.72^b	3.25^a	0.079	<0.001
C15:0	0.22	0.19	0.19	0.20	0.24	0.014	0.044
C16:0	19.2^bc	18.7^c	20.3^b	21.6^a	20.3^b	0.30	<0.001
iso-C16:0	0.29^b	0.43^a	0.43^a	0.39^a	0.42^a	0.022	<0.001
C17:0	0.20	0.19	0.20	0.19	0.20	0.010	0.579
C18:0	10.20^a	9.14^ab	7.87^c	8.27^bc	9.25^ab	0.306	<0.001
C20:0	0.10^a	0.09^ab	0.08^b	0.08^b	0.08^b	0.004	0.001
C14:1	0.03^b	0.04^b	0.28^a	0.27^b	0.22^a	0.019	<0.001
C16:1	1.27^d	1.58 ^cd	2.95^ab	3.11^a	2.17^bc	0.194	<0.001
C17:1	0.05^c	0.06^c	0.10^a	0.10^ab	0.09^b	0.004	<0.001
C20:1	0.04^a	0.05^a	0.05^a	0.05^a	0.03^b	0.004	<0.001
C22:1	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.04	0.004	0.729
9-C18:1	23.3^c	25.5^abc	27.0^ab	27.3^a	24.4^bc	0.68	<0.001
11-C18:1	1.75^c	1.91^bc	2.14^a	2.17^a	2.11^ab	0.05	<0.001
13-C18:1	0.04^b	0.04^b	0.09^a	0.08^a	0.07^a	0.005	<0.001
t9-C18:1	0.10^ab	0.09^b	0.12^ab	0.14^a	0.09^ab	0.011	0.010
t10-C18:1	0.03^a	0.01^b	0.01^b	0.03^ab	0.04^a	0.005	<0.001
t11-C18:1	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.006	0.146
t12-C18:1	0.04^ab	0.04^ab	0.04^ab	0.06^a	0.04^b	0.005	0.020
C18:2 n-6	29.9^a	29.2^a	18.9^b	18.0^b	18.4^b	0.52	<0.001
9/t11-C18:2	0.004^d	0.004^d	0.290^a	0.229^b	0.145^c	0.005	<0.001
C18:3 n-3	2.14^a	2.00^a	0.83^b	0.76^b	0.69^b	0.038	<0.001
C18:3 n-6	0.14^a	0.14^a	0.11^b	0.12^ab	0.11^ab	0.007	0.007
C20:1 n-9	0.29^bc	0.28^c	0.32^a	0.32^ab	0.27^c	0.007	<0.001
C20:2 n-6	0.40^a	0.36^a	0.13^b	0.11^b	0.19^ab	0.053	<0.001
C20:3 n-3	0.08^a	0.06^ab	0.04^c	0.04^c	0.05^bc	0.004	<0.001
C20:3 n-6	0.51	0.58	0.53	0.53	0.49	0.031	0.392
C20:4 n-6	6.09^a	5.85^ab	4.33^b	4.44^b	6.26^a	0.397	0.002
C20:5 n-3	0.12	0.12	0.10	0.11	0.11	0.007	0.255
C22:4 n-6	0.92^ab	0.80^b	0.88^ab	0.91^ab	1.10^a	0.063	0.027
C22:5 n-3	0.98^a	1.12^a	0.52^b	0.56^b	0.95^a	0.067	<0.001
C22:5 n-6	0.17^ab	0.16^b	0.16^b	0.20^ab	0.23^a	0.017	0.011
C22:6 n-3	0.86^a	0.64^abc	0.40^c	0.54^bc	0.72^ab	0.060	<0.001
Σ Saturated FA	30.5^c	29.2^d	39.5^b	39.8^ab	40.8^a	0.32	<0.001
Σ Monunsaturated FA	27.8^c	29.7^bc	33.3^ab	33.8^a	29.7^bc	0.98	<0.001
Σ Polyunsaturated FA	42.3^a	41.1^a	27.3^b	26.5^b	29.5^b	0.93	<0.001
Σ n-3 FA	4.18^a	3.94^a	1.90^c	2.01^c	2.53^b	0.106	<0.001
Σ n-6 FA	37.3^a	37.1^a	25.1^b	24.3^b	26.8^b	0.95	<0.001
n-6:n-3 FA ratio	8.93^d	9.44^d	13.19^a	12.14^b	10.67^c	0.227	<0.001

−, not detected

^a-dValues in the same row with different superscript are significantly different (P < 0.05).

¹SS = control; soybean cake + soybean oil; SS- = negative control; soybean cake + soybean oil; AA- = larvae meal A + larvae fat A; AB- = larvae meal A + larvae fat B; BB- = larvae meal B rich in larvae fat B.

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