Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia Illucens) as Dietary Source for Laying Quails: Live Performance, and Egg Physico-Chemical Quality, Sensory Profile and Storage Stability

The search for alternative and sustainable protein sources in poultry production is an issue of major importance due to the increasing demand of products of animal origin and, consequently, of feedstuffs to feed food-producing animals. The latter is exacerbating the overexploitation of natural resources, thus increasing the environmental impact of animal farming, as well as the prices of raw materials. In this sense, insects have been indicated as one of the possible alternatives to solve this problem, thus research efforts to test the feasibility of a practical application to the poultry sector are required. Therefore, the present study tested different inclusion levels of a defatted black soldier fly larvae protein meal in the diets for laying quails as an alternative ingredient to the soybean meal and oil. Results of the present study showed that the insect meal can technically be applied to laying quails’ feed formulations, providing optimal performance and health status. Egg nutritional quality and sensory profile too did not worsen when quails were fed with the insect meal supplementation. Further research efforts should be performed to improve the healthiness of the lipid fraction of the tested insect larvae and, in turn, the lipid quality of the eggs obtained from insect-fed quails