Enhancing sustainability in laying hens feeding: the impact of local plant-based ingredients and black soldier fly larvae on egg nutritional quality and sensory quality

This study examines the sustainability of laying hens feeding programs by comparing three diets: a standard layer’s formula as a control diet (CON), an alternative diet (ALT) with reduced soybean meal and including local plant ingredients: pea meal, corn dried distillers’ grains with soluble and a higher proportion of sunflower meal, and ALT supplemented with 5% black soldier fly larvae (ALT+BSFL). Using 120 hens (5 replicates per diet), we evaluated the environmental and economic impact, egg nutritional quality and consumer perception. ALT and ALT+BSFL reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 10.35% and 15.16% kg CO2 eq./kg egg mass, respectively, compared to CON (p ≤ 0.01). The ALT diet resulted in a modest reduction in feed cost, whereas BSFL supplementation led to higher cost due to the current market price of insect larvae. Egg nutritional composition remained unchanged with ALT, while BSFL inclusion slightly increased lauric and myristic acids in yolk (p ≤ 0.01) without affecting other lipids or health indices. Sensory analysis revealed no significant differences among diets. These findings support incorporating local plant-based and insect-derived ingredients as sustainable, acceptable alternatives in poultry nutrition.