Effects of black soldier (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal inclusion in commercial diet on performance and economic feasibility of Sasso chicken in Arba Minch

The study was conducted with the objective of evaluating black soldier larvae meal (BSFLM) inclusion in commercial chicken diet on performance and economic feasibility of Sasso Chicken. A total of 135 day-old Sasso (Sasso-TT4) chicks were purchased from Ethio Chicken PLC, located in Gumuree, Ethiopia and randomly assigned to three dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with three replications of 15 chicks each. Three treatments, T1 (control, 100% commercial diet), T2 (commercial diets with 30% BSFLM substitute soybean meal), and T3 (commercial diets with 50% BSFLM substitute soybean meal) were formulated by substitution soybean meal with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) at 0%, 30% and 50% substitution of the commercial chicken diet sourced from Muza Animal feed producer cooperative union at Arba Minch town. Black soldier fly larvae meal was reared at Arba Minch University, department of Animal science, Animal Nutrition laboratory following a standard rearing technique. Birds were kept for 9 weeks and data was collected for the following parameters including growth performance, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass traits and economic feasibility. Data was analyzed using SAS software and level of significance was declared at p < 0.05, means separation was computed following Tukey Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) test. Results revealed that T3 significantly enhanced feed intake (starter: 19.77 g, grower: 49.16 g, finisher: 93.85 g), average daily gain (starter: 13.46 g, grower: 31.12 g, finisher: 48.72 g) and final body weight (starter: 314.15 g, grower: 719.92 g, finisher: 1529.83 g). Feed efficiency was least recorded at grower phase (1.58). Carcass traits such as hot carcass weight (967.63 g), dressing percentage (69.32%), breast (215.10 g), thigh (172.75 g) and drumstick (172.75 g) weights were superior in T3. Economically, T3 was the most feasible diet with the highest profitability. In conclusion, partial replacement of soybean meal with black soldier fly larvae meal up to 50% in Sasso chicken diets improves growth, feed intake, carcass traits and economic returns.