Replacement of soybean oil by Hermetia illucens fat in turkey nutrition: effect on performance, digestibility, microbial community, immune and physiological status and final product quality

ABSTRACT

1. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of partial (50%) or total replacement of soybean oil (SO) by black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) fat on the growth performance, coefficients of apparent nutrient digestibility, selected internal organ weights and length, pancreatic enzyme activity and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microecology modulation, as well as microbiota activity, physiological and immunological responses in young turkey poults.

2. A total of 216, seven day old female turkeys (B.U.T 6) were randomly distributed to three dietary treatments using six replicate pens per group with 12 birds per pen. The following design of the trial was applied: SO 100% soybean oil; BSFL50 a 50/50 combination of SO and BSFL fat; or 100% BSFL fat (total replacement of SO).

3. The use of BSFL fat did not affect the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, GIT morphology, or quality of the breast and thigh muscles. However, reduced trypsin activity was noticed in the BSFL100 group, but this had no effect on digestibility. Total replacement of SO reduced proliferation of potentially pathogenic bacteria, i.e., Enterobacteriaceae spp., as well as decreasing levels of IL-6, while partial substitution lowered the TNF-α concentration.

4. The replacement of commonly used SO by BSFL fat can be successfully applied in young turkey poult nutrition. BSFL fat may be considered an antimicrobial agent and support immune responses.

KEYWORDS:

• Black soldier fly
• dietary fat
• immune status
• insect
• microbiology
• performance
• turkey

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by several sources, i.e., the IN OIL project: An innovative method for bio-conversion of by-products from the food processing industry, which was financed by the National Centre for Research and Development within the Lider VII Programme No. LIDER/5/0148/L-7/15/NCBR/2016; the funds of Poznań University of Life Sciences; TEAM TECH/2016-2/11-0026 project, titled Insects as novel protein sources for fish and poultry, financed by the Foundation of Polish Science (POIR 4.4); funds of the National Centre for Research and Development, no. POIR.01.01.01-00-0828/15, titled InnSecta: innovative technology of feedstuffs production based on insect biomass; and by the 2019 grant of the Young Researcher Program (Abdelbasset Benzertiha) of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science Poznań University of Life Sciences, financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju [POIR.01.01.01-00-0828/15]; Foundation of Polish Science [TEAM TECH/2016-2/11-0026]; Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education [the 2019 grant of the Young Researcher Program]; National Centre for Research and Development [LIDER/5/0148/L-7/15/NCBR/2016].