Tenébrio (Tenebrio molitor) in broiler diets: metabolizable energy, amino acids digestibility and performance

Abstract

The use of insects in the animal industry is a promising alternative because it combines nutritive value, nutraceutical proprieties, efficient production systems, less environmental footprints, and more sustainability since it requires less water, space and uses by-products as substrate. Chickens have the natural behavior of feeding themselves from a variety of insects during their entire lifecycle and the entomophagy can represent more than 30% of all the ingested food. Nevertheless, at the present, information on nutrient digestibility, benefits on the productive performance and health of insect-fed birds are scare and limited. Among the 2,000 species of known edible insects, the tenebrio (Tenebrio molitor) occupies a prominent position due the wide distribution in Brazil and the world. Tenebrio has characteristics of being easily handled and farmed, has high feed efficiency, requires 20% of crude protein, and can utilize animal and vegetable waste products. Moreover, tenebrio produces four different types of antimicrobial peptides (Tenecins 1, 2, 3 and 4), effective against Gram negative and positive bacteria as well this antimicrobial can modulate immune responses. At the end of 4-5 months of rearing, tenebrios end up with body protein content between 47-60% on dry matter basis. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of tenebrio mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) in broiler poultry diets from 1 to 35 days. This research is divided in three approaches of using mealworm in poultry diets: a) ingredient preference and feed intake (experiment 1); b) nutrients digestibility and amino acids digestibility assays (experiment 2); c) growth performance of broilers (experiment 3). The feeding behavior among mealworm, soybean and corn meal will be investigated to establish the amount of tenebrio consumed by the chickens. Following, the metabolizable energy and ileal digestibility of amino acids will be quantified. Finally, a feeding trial of 1-35 days will be performed to evaluate the growth performance and efficiency with different mealworm inclusion levels. All the finding data will provide a scientific framework to rise the discussion on the use of mealworm on broiler feeding in Brazil. (AU)