Suitability of Hermetia illucens larvae meal and fat in broiler diets: effects on animal performance, apparent ileal digestibility, gut histology, and microbial metabolites

Table 4 Summarised performance results of the starter, grower, and finisher period as well as the overall broiler trial (n = 6)

Items	Protein × Fat						SE	P-value	Protein (LSMean)		SE	P-value	Fat (LSMean)			SE	P-value
Items	S + 0 L	S + 50 L	S + 100 L	L + 0 L	L + 50 L	L + 100 L	SE	P-value	S	L	SE	P-value	0 L	50 L	100 L	SE	P-value
Starter period, d 1–14
Body weight, g	559^Z	552^YZ	539^BY	564	553	564^A	5.6	0.028	550	561	4.2	0.008	562^u	553^uv	551^v	4.569	0.076
ADFI, g/bird	40	40	39	40	39	40	0.47	0.004¹	39	39	0.35	0.693	40	40	39	0.388	0.379
ADG, g	37	36	35^B	37	36	37^A	0.41	0.030	36	37	0.30	0.009	37	36	36	0.332	0.091¹
FCR, g/g	1.079^Y	1.106^AZ	1.094^YZ	1.077	1.067^B	1.076	0.007	0.011	1.093	1.074	0.005	< 0.001	1.078	1.087	1.085	0.006	0.298
Grower period, d 15–28
Body weight, g	2047	2059	1987	2047	2024	2041	24.6	0.188	2031	2037	15.28	0.756	2047	2041	2014	18.05	0.345
ADFI, g/bird	133	133	130	135	134	136	1.46	0.146	132	135	0.85	0.041	134	134	133	1.044	0.759
ADG, g	106	108	103	106	105	105	1.6	0.361	106	105	0.93	0.794	106	106	104	1.126	0.442
FCR, g/g	1.254	1.243	1.256	1.274	1.272	1.289	0.01	0.884	1.251	1.278	0.007	0.015	1.264	1.257	1.273	0.009	0.503
Finisher period, d 29–35
Body weight, g	2975	2908	2888	3039	2934	2982	53.8	0.744	2924	2985	39.81	0.103	3007	2921	2935	43.73	0.136
ADFI, g/bird	175	178	174	183	184	183	3.88	0.774	175	183	3.32	< 0.001	179	181	179	3.470	0.649
ADG, g	133	121	129	141	130	134	7.6	0.938	128	135	6.32	0.072	137	126	132	6.662	0.103
FCR, g/g	1.319	1.503	1.364	1.293	1.492	1.377	0.09	0.968	1.396	1.387	0.06	0.894	1.306^v	1.498^u	1.371^uv	0.071	0.052
Overall period, d 1–35
ADG, g	84	82	81	86	83	84	1.5	0.741	82	84	1.13	0.102	85	82	83	1.246	0.137
ADFI, g	104	105	102	106	107	107	1.23	0.168	104	107	0.841	0.005	105	106	105	0.954	0.460
FCR, g/g	1.244	1.289	1.256	1.242	1.296	1.278	0.02	0.815	1.263	1.272	0.01	0.572	1.243^v	1.293^u	1.267^uv	0.016	0.052

S, soybean meal; L, 15% of SBM crude protein substituted with HI larvae meal CP; S + 0 L, SBM + 0 HI larvae fat; S + 50 L, SBM + 50% HI larvae fat; S + 100 L, SBM+ 100% HI larvae fat; L + 0 L, HI larvae meal+ 0 HI larvae fat; L + 50 L, HI larvae meal+ 50% HI larvae fat; L + 100 L, HI larvae meal+ 100% HI larvae fat, ADFI Average daily feed intake, ADG Average daily gain, FCR Feed conversion ratio
^A,B Protein sources at the same HI larvae fat inclusion level differ if having different superscripts (P < 0.05)
^Y,Z HI larvae fat level within soybean feeding not sharing a common superscript differ (P < 0.05)
^u,v indicate differences by trend (0.05 ≤ P ≤ 0.10) for the main effect of fat source
¹ post hoc test Tukey P > 0.10
SE Standard error

ISSN: 2049-1891