Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 25;9(3):116.
doi: 10.3390/ani9030116.

Insect Oil as An Alternative to Palm Oil and Poultry Fat in Broiler Chicken Nutrition

Abdelbasset Benzertiha  1   2 , Bartosz Kierończyk  3 , Mateusz Rawski  4 , Paweł Kołodziejski  5 , Magdalena Bryszak  6 , Damian Józefiak  7
Affiliations

Insect Oil as An Alternative to Palm Oil and Poultry Fat in Broiler Chicken Nutrition

Abdelbasset Benzertiha et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of Tenebrio molitor (TM) oil as a total replacement for palm oil and poultry fat in broiler chicken diets on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, pancreatic enzyme activity, selected blood parameters and the lipid fatty acid compositions of liver and breast muscle tissues. A total of 72 seven-day-old female Ross 308 broiler chickens were used. The birds were randomly distributed into three groups with 12 replicates each, using two birds per replicate for 30 days in metabolic cages. The basal diet was supplemented with 5% palm oil, poultry fat or TM oil. There was no effect (p > 0.05) caused by the dietary oil replacement on the birds' performance and apparent nutrient digestibility. Liver size (p = 0.033), the concentration of hepatic triglycerides (p = 0.049) and total cholesterol (p = 0.048) were reduced by TM oil supplementation. Furthermore, TM oil supplementation increased n-3 and n-6 fatty acids (p = 0.006; p < 0.001, respectively) in breast muscle tissue. In conclusion, the use of TM oil in broiler chickens' diets did not show any adverse effects on performance, nutrient digestibility and blood biochemical parameters. Moreover, TM oil supplementation improved the fatty acid profiles of liver and breast muscle tissues.

Keywords: Tenebrio molitor; broiler chicken; insect oil; mealworm; palm oil; poultry fat.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ravindran V., Tancharoenrat P., Zaefarian F., Ravindran G. Fats in poultry nutrition: Digestive physiology and factors influencing their utilisation. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 2016;213:1–21. doi: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2016.01.012. - DOI
    1. Khusro M., Andrew N., Nicholas A. Insects as poultry feed: A scoping study for poultry production systems in Australia. Worlds Poult. Sci. J. 2012;68:435–446. doi: 10.1017/S0043933912000554. - DOI
    1. Premalatha M., Abbasi T., Abbasi T., Abbasi S. Energy-efficient food production to reduce global warming and ecodegradation: The use of edible insects. Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 2011;15:4357–4360. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.115. - DOI
    1. Sánchez-Muros M.-J., Barroso F.G., Manzano-Agugliaro F. Insect meal as renewable source of food for animal feeding: A review. J. Clean. Prod. 2014;65:16–27. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.068. - DOI
    1. Józefiak D., Józefiak A., Kierończyk B., Rawski M., Świątkiewicz S., Długosz J., Engberg R.M. 1. Insects–A Natural Nutrient Source for Poultry—A Review. Ann. Anim. Sci. 2016;16:297–313. doi: 10.1515/aoas-2016-0010. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources