Effects of Dietary Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal Inclusion on the Growth Performance of Silkie Crossbreed Chicken

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) can be grown on a wide range of waste substrates, offering a sustainable alternative to soybean meal as an ingredient for animal feed. The high protein and fat contents and favourable amino acid and fatty acid profiles of BSFL meal contribute to making it a suitable ingredient in broiler diets. BSFL meal also contains bioactive components. However, the impact of dietary BSFL meal inclusion on the growth performance of slow-growing silkie crossbreed broilers has not been evaluated yet. Based on previous findings, we hypothesised that BSFL meal inclusion can increase feed efficiency (gain:feed; G:F) by increasing the average daily gain in silkie crossbreed chickens. During a three-week long feeding trial, 72 silkie crossbreed chickens of 39 days of age were randomly assigned to three diets: control diet containing 260 g/kg soybean meal (CON), and partial replacement of soybean meal with 50 g/kg (BSFL50) or 150 g/kg BSFL meal (BSFL150), respectively. The observational units were cages of 3 birds each and each treatment had 8 replicates. Weight gain, feed consumption and G:F were monitored weekly and treatment effects were evaluated by one-way ANOVA. Compared with CON, BSFL50 showed a trend of increased weight gain (P = 0.06), while BSFL150 increased weight gain significantly (P = 0.04). Feed intake was not affected by the treatments (P = 0.84). Compared with CON, BSFL50 showed a trend of increased G:F (P = 0.06), while G:F was increased in BSFL150 significantly (P = 0.01). Our findings indicated that partial replacement of soybean meal with BSFL meal can increase weight gain and feed efficiency in silkie crossbreed chicken. Our ongoing analyses will further evaluate intestinal health effects and economic aspects of dietary BSFL meal inclusion in silkie crossbreed chicken.