Prospects of Insects as Poultry Feed

Dr Tanveer Ahmad 

Department of Livestock Production and Management, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi

Pakistan poultry sector is highly progressive, dynamic and well organized segment of livestock industry in the country.  According to Economic Survey of Pakistan (2017-18), the present investment in this sector exceeds Rs. 700 billion. This sector is supporting 1.5 million people through direct or indirect employment. During 2017-18, this sector has contributed 1.4 % in GDP, 7.5% in agriculture and 12.7% in livestock value added. There is an increase of 7.8% in poultry value added at current factor cost (Rs. 175.5 billion in 2017-18 vs Rs.162.8 billion during 2016-17). The tremendous growth in poultry sector is due to good nutrition, better genetic makeup and improved management strategies. These factors resulted in maximization of productive efficiency of poultry birds. However, good nutrition is not solely the balanced formulation rather it also accounts for available feed resources to be used in formulation. With the passage of time, the competition is becoming more serious and stronger between human and animals for food (cereal grains)/feed (fish meal) resources. Further, to achieve food security and improved nutrition (UN Sustainable Development Goals) for growing population in Pakistan, the growth in livestock and particularly poultry sector is of utmost importance. Therefore, there is a need to look for alternate feed resources for livestock and poultry feeding.

The use of insects, as an alternative to protein sources like soybean and fish meal, in livestock, poultry and aquaculture feeding is on rise, particularly in the low-income world. Insect meal, largely made from larvae, contains a 45–68% (DM basis) high quality protein with good amino acid (AA) profile and digestibility (91-95%). It is claimed that some insect meal have a greater concentration of essential AAs than soybean meal. Relative to lysine, Black Soldier Fly (BSF) meal in comparison to fish meal contains higher levels of threonine, valine, isoleucine and leucine. Owing to high fat contents, the energy supply from insects is also comparable to cereals and legumes (Zoe Kay, 2015). The median crude fat (CF) contents of common housefly larvae and pupae are 20.6 and 15.5% of DM, respectively. In case of BSF larvae and prepupae the CF contents are 27.1 and 28.8% of DM, respectively (Veldkamp and Bosch, 2018). The reported metabolizable energy value of housefly maggots is 14.2 MJ/kg DM or 17.9 MJ/kg. The crude ash contents of different insect meals varied between 3.5-14.7% of DM. In addition to nutritive worth, insect feeding may also have positive impact on livestock health and welfare. This would be helpful to produce antibiotic free livestock.

Common housefly larvae (maggots) feeding between 10 to 15% of broiler diets improved growth performance and carcass quality (Hwangbo et al., 2009). It is generally recommended to feed maggots in dry form and dietary inclusion level should be kept below 10%. Majority of the experiments with broilers indicated partial replacement of fish meal by maggot meal. A significant increase in feed intake, average live weight at slaughter and average daily gain in broilers was observed through supplementation of house fly larvae meal as compared to corn-soy oil cake meal diet (Pretorius, 2011). A trial with fifty week old laying hens revealed that without any deleterious effects on egg production and shell strength, the maggot meal can replace 50% of the protein supplied from fish meal in diets based on cassava leaves and roots (Agunbiade et al., 2007). In another study, two days earlier market weight (1.3 kg) attainment in broilers fed 1, 2 and 3% BSF larvae than control treatment was reported by Lee et al. (2018). This indicates improved growth performance in broilers by ingestion of BSF larvae. A polysaccharide called chitin is present in the exoskeleton of insects. This may have a positive effect on the immune system in poultry. They further reported higher serum lysozyme activities in 2 and 3% BSF larvae fed groups than that of control. They concluded that supplementation of BSF larvae can increase broilers survival rates when experimentally infected by Salmonella Gallinarum. These findings substantiate the concept that by feeding insects to chickens, the use of antibiotics in the poultry production can be reduced.

The well documented importance of insects in poultry feeding is making possible to expand its use in low income world. Insects are cold blooded and can efficiently convert low grade bio-waste into high quality protein in a short time. High reproductive rates and short life span are making insects a good choice for production of large quantities of protein in a very short time. Such scenario is demanding to develop consumer’s acquaintance with insects as a valuable and sustainable component of the animal feed chain. This may also open avenues of employment through small scale insects production and its conversion into meal for animal feeding. Landless and small scale farmers could be able to generate additional income through insect production. Such practices will allow to reduce the use of costly feed items in livestock and poultry feeding.

The risks involved in insect production, processing and feeding have been discussed well and are available on the website of European Food Safety Authority. In general, these risk are mainly associated with the type of substrate used for insect production and processing methods involved. The FAO, in 2010, strongly recommends the use of insects as human food and animal feed as a tool for poverty alleviation. Five European countries, like UK and Finland, have already accepted insect products for human food. The European Commission (EC) also indicated to allow the use of insect protein in European poultry feed in 2019. However, current authorization by EC is limited to insect species including BSF, house fly, yellow mealworm, lesser mealworm, house cricket, banded cricket and field cricket (Boloh, 2018).

As the world is moving, we have to look for insects as an alternative protein feedstuff in Pakistan. Production of insects protein is economical and have lowest foot print compared to other protein feedstuffs. Though aesthetic considerations are there, but to support ever increasing protein feedstuffs demand for poultry, shifting to such alternatives is imperative.

-References are available on request (tanveer.ahmad@uaar.edu.pk)