ARTICLE 72 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE February 2024 "Insects are natural foods for poultry. Chickens can be found picking worms and larvae from the grass, soil and litter where they walk. The use of insects in poultry feed is a potential solution to improve the sustainability of poultry diets. Black soldier fly, meal worm, housefly, cricket/ grasshopper/ locust, silkworm and earthworm are the commonly used insect meals in broiler and laying hen diet." INSECT MEAL: AN ALTERNATIVE FEED RESOURCES FOR POULTRY Pranit V. Mankhair M.V.Sc Scholar Department of Animal Nutrition Bihar Veterinary College, Bihar Animal Sciences University Priyanka Kumari M.V.Sc Scholar Department of Animal Nutrition Bihar Veterinary College, Bihar Animal Sciences University Pankaj Kumar Singh Professor & Head Department of Animal Nutrition Bihar Veterinary College, Bihar Animal Sciences University In poultry production, feed cost is approximately 60-80 % of the total cost. Shortage of protein feed resources is the major challenge to the poultry industry. A possible solution to reduce poultry feed cost is finding available, efficient and inexpensive alternative feed sources. Insects are natural foods for poultry. Chickens can be found picking worms and larvae from the grass, soil and litter where they walk. The use of insects in poultry feed is a potential solution to improve the sustainability of poultry diets. Insect meal contains a greater amount of essential amino acids compared to conventional feed stuffs (Al-Qazzaz and Ismail, 2016). Black soldier fly, meal worm, housefly, cricket/ grasshopper/ locust, silkworm and earthworm are the commonly used insect meals in broiler and laying hen diet. The insects can be used as live, dried and paste form for poultry diets (Elahi et al., 2020). A dried insect is considered suitable for poultry diet because the water content in fresh or live insect stimulates the degradation, antimicrobial activity, and Millard reaction (Kroncke et al., 2019). In recent time, insect meal as a source of protein in poultry diets is gaining attention, which has the potential to lower the feed costs and boost profitability via the utilization of fresh insects for small poultry production.
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