Insects a protein source for animal diets?

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Insects represent a potential alternative protein source for animal diets. As the world’s population increases, protein source are becoming more scarce.

That’s why there is an imperative need to find new protein sources to replace traditional soybean meal and fishmeal.

Therefore, researchers have focused their attention on edible insects as a potential protein alternative that can meet such needs.

Black soldier fly (BSFL) larvae (Hermetia illucens L.) are rich in nutrients such as fats, proteins, and high-quality amino acids and minerals, making them a good source of protein.

What are Black Soldier Fly larvae?

They are saprophytic insects that mainly feed on organic waste such as: vegetable waste, animal manure and waste, food waste, agricultural by-products or straw.

BSFL are excellent alternative proteins sources for human and animal consumption. Their capacity to feed on organic waste presents great potential to help reduce pollution.

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In the process of waste degradation, they convert organic waste into amino acids, peptides, proteins, oils, chitin and vitamins, thus controlling certain harmful bacteria (such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli) and pests.These are also used in medicine, chemistry and various animal feeds (mainly for pets, pigs and poultry).

Supplementing BSFL in livestock feed can help reduce manure excretion by 60%. In addition, larvae can break down more than 50% of chicken manure and convert it into high-quality amino acids, proteins and fats that can be used in animal feed. Which reduces production costs significantly.

BSFL are also rich in minerals and chitin and possess antioxidant and immune-boosting properties.

BSFL nutritional value

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Currently there are two types of BSFL used in animal feed. These are: defatted and full-fat, with the main difference being the content of fat and saturated fatty acids found in the BSFL.

Both defatted and complete BSFL have a rich amino acid profile. Therefore, they are considered to be more sustainable protein sources than soybean or fish meal

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The most abundant essential amino acids found in BSFL are: leucine (average 44.6 g/kg, 27.8 g/kg to 78.3 g/kg), lysine (average 38.8 g/kg, 23.0 g/kg to 68.2 g/kg) and valine (average 40.1 g/kg, ranging from 28.2 g/kg to 67.9 g/kg).

The contents for these three amino acid are higher than those found in soybean meal, and even higher than the valine content found in fishmeal.

The least abundant essential amino acids found in BSFL are: methionine and tryptophan, which are comparable to soybean meal levels and much lower than those found in fishmeal.

The most abundant saturated fatty acid (SFA) is lauric acid (C12:0), which ranges from 75 to 575.

The highest content of monounsaturated fatty acids are: oleic acid (c9C18:1), which ranges from 79.7 to 266.0 g/kg, palmitoleic acid (C16:1), between 10.3 and 192.0 g/kg, linoleic acid (C18:2n6), between 38.0 and 314.0 g/kg, and linolenic acid (C18:3n3), between 9.8 and 36.0 g/kg.

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BSFL are rich in minerals such as calcium (Ca) which is the most abundant and ranges from 1.2 g/kg to 35.7 g/kg.

However, in addition to mineral accumulation, BSFL present some toxic and harmful elements such as: (Ba, Hg and Mo), which pose a challenge in regards to feed safety and food production.

The mineral content and that of other nutrients found in BSFL varies significantly between different studies. This may be explained by the following reasons:

First, it may be that BSFL’s growth stages are different.
The nutritional matrix ingested by BSFL, fat and ash content from vegetable waste, chicken feed and kitchen waste present great variations.
Such variations in nutritional composition may be related to processing methods. Different killing methods such as: (blanching, drying, freezing, hydrostatic high-pressure grinding, and suffocation) have an effect on pH, ash, fat content, and oxidative capacity.
Variations in nutritional composition are also related to various factors such as temperature, humidity, sunlight, moisture content, pH, etc.

Challenges for BSFL use

At present, the main obstacles for large-scale use of BSFL in animal feed are associated with legal regulations related to food safety.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations‘ global food regulations established safe conditions for BSFL. Allowing insect production for its use in pets and feeding.

Consumer acceptance of meat products from BSFL-fed animals should also be considered as limiting factor. There is widespread support on the idea of using insects in animal feed, especially for fish and poultry feeding. A questionnaire carried out for a specific study, revealed that two-thirds of the participants were willing to accept the use of insects in animal feed.
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On the other hand, mass production is still a long way off. Considering that BSFL availability and prices are still far from being competitive when compared with soybean meal and fishmeal. For such reasons BSFL are still not widely used in poultry and pork diets.

Source:

Lu, Shengyong, Nittaya Taethaisong, Weerada Meethip, Jariya Surakhunthod, Boontum Sinpru, Thakun Sroichak, Pawinee Archa, Sorasak Thongpea, Siwaporn Paengkoum, Rayudika Aprilia Patindra Purba, and Pramote Paengkoum. 2022. “Nutritional Composition of Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens L.) and Its Potential Uses as Alternative Protein Sources in Animal Diets: A Review” Insects 13, no. 9: 831.

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