and valine, higher in methionine but lower in arginine, glu- tamine and tryptophan. Based on their amino acid profile, the larvae will be closer to fish meal in value than to soybean meal or meat meal. For the evaluation of fat, it is necessary to consider that the crude fat fraction also contains non-fatty acid components, like glycerol, vitamins, resin and polymers. It should be noted that the fat content and fatty acid composition depends on the diet of the larvae. The fraction of fatty acids in the total fat (eluability) is 80-93%. Within the fatty acid fraction, C6-C12 may be relevant because these have anti-microbial properties. C16:0 + C18:0 are long chain saturated fatty acids and have a lower digestibility due to slow emulsification. Linoleic (-6) acid and linolenic (-3) acid are essential fatty acids neces- sary to produce relevant metabolites. Linoleic acid results in pro-inflammatory reactions while linolenic acid is anti-inflam- matory. The optimum ratio is 5:1 but in many corn-soya-based diets the ratio is more than 10:1. In which event it would be better to feed omega-3 from fish oil. Compared with the fatty acid pattern of soybean meal, Amusca larvae contain less lin- oleic but more linolenic acid. The optimum ratio is 5.1:1 which is close to the optimum of 5, while soybean meal is much higher in linoleic acid resulting in a ratio of 7.5:1.
Use of larvae in layer feeds Up to 25% of housefly larvae can be used in broiler diets
. Digestibility %
Layer hens CP
Fat NFE
ME layer kcal/kg ME poultry kcal/kg
without negative effects on performance. The performance is similar to fish meal. Housefly larvae could also replace up to 20% of fish meal in layer feeds without affecting performance and egg quality. At price levels of € 250 per tonne larvae 880 DM, the optimum inclusion rate was 18.5%. In this feed soy- bean meal and rapeseed meal were not price competitive and not included. With a gradual increase in the price of larvae, the inclusion rate reduced to 5.6% at € 500 per tonne. At € 525 and above, larvae proved to be too expensive. These calculations show that it is cost effective to implement a full reduction of soy- bean meal with larvae prices of up to € 450 per tonne. Where insect production is carried out by the layer farmers, the max- imum costs can reach € 485 when replacing all soya or € 560 when starting inclusion. In organic egg production, the use of soya is restricted to non-GMO. In that sector the use of syn- thetic amino acids is prohibited. This will result in a higher value for insects in this specific sector. If production of larvae can be up-scaled and implemented on layer farms, and costs amount to less than € 530 per tonne at farm level, larvae will be price-competitive with soybean meal and provide a high quality protein source for laying hens, along with the benefits of a sustainable on-farm circular system.
References available on request.
Table 2 – Digestibility and ME for Amusca larvae, meat meal and soybean meal. Amusca larvae
Fish meal
85 88 35
4100 3800
88 84 88
3467 3334
Meat meal
80 89 20
3452 3274
Several studies have shown that insect-based in- gredients could provide as good a protein source as fish meal and soya alterna- tives.
Soybean meal
87 28 35
2205 2197
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 6, 2020 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
