A Nutritional Evaluation of Insect Meal as a Sustainable Protein Source for Jumbo Quails: Physiological and Meat Quality Responses

The use of insect meals in place of soybean meal in diets is critical for sustainable intensification of poultry production, but the utility of this alternative dietary protein source is unknown for the Jumbo quail. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of partial substitution of soybean with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) meal on feed intake, physiological, and meat quality parameters of Jumbo quails. Three hundred and fifteen mixed-gender quails (53.8 +/- 5.19 g live-weight) were reared on five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic experimental diets formulated by replacing soybean products with BSFL meal at 0 (BSFLO), 25 (BSFL25), 50 (BSFL50), 75 (BSFL75), and 100 (BSFL100) g/kg. Feed intake, body weight gain, gain-to-feed ratio (G:F), blood parameters, and carcass and meat quality traits were determined. Quadratic trends were observed for overall feed intake (y = 605 (+/- 17.56) + 2.1 (+/- 0.82)x - 0.02 (+/- 0.008)x(2); R-2 = 0.20; p = 0.023) and overall body weight gain (y = 155 (+/- 4.70) + 0.57 (+/- 0.22)x - 0.005 (+/- 0.002)x(2); R-2 = 0.22; p = 0.026) in response to BSFL levels. However, there were neither linear nor quadratic trends for meat quality and blood parameters, except for albumin-to-globulin ratio. Only gizzard size linearly increased (y = 0.05 (+/- 0.004)x + 2.3 (+/- 0.09); R-2 = 0.18; p = 0.04) with BSFL levels. We concluded that BSFL meal could replace soybean products in Jumbo quail diets at 54 g/kg without compromising weight gain and meat quality.