Substitution of soybean meal for yellow mealworm meal in the diet of slow-growing chickens provides comparable carcass traits and meat quality.

Abstract

1. This study investigated the effects of incorporating yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) larval meal as a partial and/or complete substitute for soybean meal on carcass and meat quality in slow-growing chickens.2. A total of 256 one-day-old male broilers were randomly allocated to 1 of 32 experimental units distributed among four treatments (n = 8): the control treatment (C), where soybean (SB) meal was the protein source, and three experimental treatments, in which SB meal was replaced by Tenebrio molitor (TM) larval meal at levels of 50% (T1), 75% (T2) and 100% (T3), respectively. Three different feed phases (1-29; 29-57 and 57-92 d of age) were used for each treatment. All chickens were slaughtered at 92 d of age, with eight animals per treatment randomly selected to assess carcass and meat quality. Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIR) was used to classify meat quality.3. Carcass traits were not significantly different between treatments, except for head and thigh weight, which were higher in the control group (p < 0.01). In terms of physicochemical characteristics, treatment T2 showed less yellowness (p < 0.05), while water and cooking losses were lower in treatments T1 and T2 (p < 0.01). Meat from both T1 and T2 groups had lower shear forces (p < 0.01), higher moisture content (p < 0.01) and less protein (p < 0.05) compared to treatments C andT3. Birds fed T3 had the highest meat ash content (p < 0.01). Chickens consuming TM had higher monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) levels and lower polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and n-6 acidsPUFA (p < 0.01).4. Substitution of SB with TM is a protein alternative for slow-growing chickens that supports carcass and meat quality comparable to those fed a conventional diet.