The Impact of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as Feed Supplementation on Productive and Physiological Performance of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

A total of 450 broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used to evaluate the effect of different inclusion levels of a partially black soldier fly (BSF), BSF Powder (BSFP), BSF Puré (BSFPr), and BSF frozen whole larvae (BSFL) on the growth performance, blood parameters, humoral immune response, and intestinal bacterial count of broiler chickens. The chickens were reared from day 1 to 35 and assigned to the control and 9 dietary groups with different forms of BSF (3 replicates per group with 15 chicks). Black soldier fly was included at levels of 2%, 4%, and 6% for BSFP, BSFPr, and BSFL, respectively, in the starter and growing diets. The results indicated similar body weight, weight gain, and the growth rate in chickens fed 4% BSFP, and 2% BSFPr during the experiment. There was a marked difference in blood parameters due to the different BSF forms and included percentages. The humoral immunity antibody titers against the Newcastle disease virus fluctuated among the experimental groups of different ages. Finally, it could be concluded that the BSF can be incorporated at a level of 4% in the form of powder and Puré in a broiler diet which seemed to be adequate to achieve the favorable results in growth performance, blood parameters, immunity, and bacteriological examination. Keywords: Black soldier fly, Insects, Black solidier fly powder, Humoral immune response, Soybean substitution