Performance of Broiler Chickens Fed Maggot Meal as a Protein Substitute for Fishmeal

Abstract

There is rising food insecurity in developing countries caused by rapid population growth which can be partly addressed through poultry keeping. Conventional sources of protein in commercial poultry production are fishmeal (FM) and seed cakes, which are usually scarce, expensive and used extensively by other livestock and humans. The objective of this study was to detect a simple way of producing, harvesting and processing maggots, assess the performance of broiler chickens fed maggot meal as a protein substitute for fishmeal and evaluate cost of production. Maggots of housefly (Musca domestica) were produced from layer droppings spread on the ground under shades and harvested within 4-5days, killed with heated water (70-80°C), dried in the sun to lowest moisture content (<4%), and preserved for proximate analysis and experimentation. Two hundred and twenty-five Tropical Broc day old chicks brooded for 2 weeks and fed with the control diet, were distributed in a completely randomised block design with five treatments and three replicates each consisting of the starter and finisher phases, and the experiment conducted for 8 weeks. Diets compounded had maggot meal (MM) replacing FM at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Proximate analysis showed that MM contains 48.4% CP, 20% fat, 3302.5 kcal/kg DM ME, 14.5% ASH, 13% CF and 93.9% DM. Results from experimentation revealed that broiler chicken could perform best with MM inclusion of up to 100% in place of FM (5% of the feed), and this would produce significant reduction in cost of production as compared to the control.