Effects of dietary dried mealworm (Ptecticus tenebrifer) larvae on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weaning pigs

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of substitution of fish meal with dried mealworm (Ptecticus tenebrifer) larvae on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weaning pigs. A total of 180 crossbred [(Duroc x Yorkshire) x Landrace] piglets weaned at d 21 with an average body weight (BW) of 6.93 +/- 0.02 kg were randomly allocated into 1 of the following 3 dietary treatments: (1) CON, basal diet with 2% fish meal; (2) TRT1, basal diet with 1% fish meal and 1% dried mealworm; TRT2, basal diet with 2% dried mealworm in this 35-d trial. There were six replicates per treatment and 10 pigs per replicate. Weaning pigs fed CON diet had higher (P < 0.05) final BW than those fed TRT1 diet. During d 0-7, feed-to-gain ratio in CON treatment was lower (P < 0.05) than that in TRT1 and TRT2 treatments. Feeding TRT1 diet decreased (P < 0.05) average daily gain compared with CON during d 8-21 and 0-35, respectively. The CON treatment had higher (P < 0.05) apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter and nitrogen compared with TRT1. Taken together, the dried mealworm (Ptecticus tenebrifer) larvae can replace 2% fish meal in weaning pigs' diet without any negative effect on growth performance or nutrient digestibility.