• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.2_spc
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• pp.332-346
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• 2022

Shortage of protein feed resources is the major challenge to the world farm animal industry. Insects are known as an alternative protein source for poultry. A wide range of insects are available for use in poultry diets. Insect larvae thrive in manure, and organic waste, and produce antimicrobial peptides to protect themselves from microbial infections, and additionally these peptides might also be functional in poultry feed. The feed containing antimicrobial peptides can improve the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal health, and immune function in poultry. Insect meal contains a higher amount of essential amino acids compared to conventional feedstuffs. Black soldier fly, mealworm, housefly, cricket/Grasshopper/Locust (Orthoptera), silkworm, and earthworm are the commonly used insect meals in broiler and laying hen diets. This paper summarizes the nutrient profiles of the insect meals and reviews their efficacy when included in poultry diets. Due to the differences in insect meal products, and breeds of poultry, inconsistent results were noticed among studies. The main challenge for proper utilization, and the promising prospect of insect meal in poultry diet are also addressed in the paper. To fully exploit insect meal as an alternative protein resource, and exert their functional effects, modes of action need to be understood. With the emergence of more accurate and reliable studies, insect meals will undoubtedly play more important role in poultry feed industry.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.176-187
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• 2022

Because of human population growth, longer lifespans, and climate change, there is growing concern around world to produce enough food and feed. Insects are regarded as an alternative with high potential because the production of insects demands limited amounts of water and land, and they can add value to low-value by-products. Insects have high levels of crude protein, lipids and minerals. The relative amount of protein can vary substantially, with crude protein content ranging from 23% to 76%, depending on insect species. Their amino acid composition is good and protein digestibility is high. Insect to be a significant sustainable source as a replacement of ingredients such as soya or fishmeal in the feeds of terrestrial livestock or fish. This review provides an overview of nutritional value of insect in animal feed and challenges required to develop a sustainable, safe, and affordable insect farming industry.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.709-712
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• 2019

The effect of insect feed powder on the growth performance and economic evaluation of ducks was investigated. One hundred and twenty-old Pekin ducks were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments (0% and 1% Hermetia illucens powder) with three replicates of 20 birds each for 14-42 d. No significant (p>0.05) difference in growth performance between the control and 1% H. illucens powder was observed, except the feed conversion ratio (p<0.05), for the experimental period. The treatments with 1% H. illucens powder improved the economic indicators in comparison with the controls. Therefore, a diet supplemented with 1% H. illucens powder could significantly improve the feed conversion ratios and increase the economic indicators.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.409-431
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• 2022

Various insects have emerged as novel feed resources due to their economical, eco-friendly, and nutritive characteristics. Fish, poultry, and pigs are livestock that can feed on insects. The digestibility of insect-containing meals were presented by the species, life stage, nutritional component, and processing methods. Several studies have shown a reduced apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) when insects were supplied as a replacement for commercial meals related to chitin. Although the expression of chitinase mRNA was present in several livestock, indigestible components in insects, such as chitin or fiber, could be a reason for the reduced ADC. However, various components can positively affect livestock health. Although the bio-functional properties of these components have been verified in vitro, they show positive health-promoting effects owing to their functional expression when directly applied to animal diets. Changes in the intestinal microbiota of animals, enhancement of immunity, and enhancement of antibacterial activity were confirmed as positive effects that can be obtained through insect diets. However, there are some issues with the safety of insects as feed. To increase the utility of insects as feed, microbial hazards, chemical hazards, and allergens should be regulated. The European Union, North America, East Asia, Australia, and Nigeria have established regulations regarding insect feed, which could enhance the utility of insects as novel feed resources for the future.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.2_spc
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• pp.347-355
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• 2022

Among edible insects, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), and common housefly (Musca domestica) have been considered as an alternative protein source for pigs. Because they are easy to breed and grow in the organic wastes, and they have well-balanced nutritional value as a protein source for pigs. The black soldier fly larvae and mealworm could replace the fish meal in the diets for weaned pigs without adverse effects on growth performance and nutrient digestibility. Black soldier fly could also be included in the finishing pig's diet without any negative effects on the growth performance and pork quality of the market pigs. Insect products showed a greater standardized ileal digestibility value of amino acids than conventional animal proteins in growing pigs. Due to the limited amount of insect products used for pig feeding study, most previous pig studies have been conducted in weaned pigs. Thus, further study is needed about the optimal inclusion level of insect products in every phase diet from weaned pigs to sows. The use of insect products in swine diets has some challenges in terms of cost, supply, and safety. Lastly, intrinsic differences among insect species, processing method, and feeding phase should be taken into consideration for the use of insect products in the swine diets.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2016

Distillers dried grain (DDG) and makgeolli spent grain (MSG) are agricultural byproducts to produce alcoholic beverage. However, they are known to contain enough nutrients. Mealworm is a promising insect resource for an animal feed ingredient as well as alternative human food. With low cost, DDG and MSG were investigated as a feed ingredient for rearing high quality mealworms. DDG and MSG were mixed with wheat bran and compared to control feed (only wheat bran) for its effects on larval survivorship, larval weight, duration for developmental period, pupation rate, and pupal weight. When DDG added, larval survivorship was reduced to 50~70% compared to the control group. Larvae fed on DDG were heavier from third to sixth week. Especially, larvae with 50% DDG were 28% heavier than the control group at the third week. For the larval period, the 50% DDG group was 11% less than that for the control. The pupal weight for the 30% DDG group was 7% heavier than that for the control group. Pupation rates for all the DDG groups were higher than 90%. When compared to the control, larval survivorship for the 70% MSG group was low, but the 50% and 70% MSG groups were high during the seventh and eighth weeks because of delayed development. After the eighth week, larvae with 70% MSG showed the highest larval weight increase as 9~18% compared to the control group. Except 70% MSG group, all of MSG groups showed more than 90% pupation rates. We confirmed that adding 30~50% of DDG or MSG to conventional wheat bran have a strong potential to replace the conventional wheat bran insect feed for quality insect production.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.563-568
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• 2018

The insect industry is a promising agricultural resource and expected to grow steadily. In Korea, Gryllus bimaculatus and the larvae of Tenebrio molior, Protaetia brevitarsis, and Allomyrina dichotoma were listed as general food ingredients. As interest in these edible insects increases, rearing techniques and nutritious food sources are needed for mass production. In this study, wheat bran, dog feed, and pig feed were investigated for their effects on the larval growth of P. brevitarsis and A. dichotoma. When fermented sawdust with 30% wheat bran was used, the larval survival rate of P. brevitarsis and A. dichotoma (p=0.244341 and p=0.007966, respectively) and growth rate (p=0.001400 and p=0.000051, respectively) were significantly lower than those of the control (fermented sawdust with no supplement). Therefore, fermented sawdust with a high density of wheat bran was inappropriate for both insects. When fed fermented sawdust with 2.5 or 5% of dog and pig feed, the survival rate and growth rate of the larvae were higher than those of the control. Interestingly, the maximum larval weight with 2.5% dog feed was increased by $3.35{\pm}0.10g$ and $32.59{\pm}0.79g$ for P. brevitarsis and A. dichotoma, respectively. In addition, the larval period of both was shorter than that of the control by 40 days or more. Therefore, it is considered that animal feed can be used as a feed source for these edible insects.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1185-1190
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• 2017

Insects are gaining recognition as an alternative source of protein. As a result, more and more domestic farms have begun mass rearing of edible insects. In order to produce high quality insects, studies on the development of safe and nutritious feed sources are needed. Given the cost of rearing insects, agricultural and industrial by-products are good sources for feed. The efficient utilization of these by-products can help in reducing the cost of production and preventing environmental pollution. In the current study, Citrus unshiu peel (CP), soybean curd cake (SCC), soybean oil meal (SOM), and brewers dried grain (BDG) were investigated for their effects on larval growth and development of Protaetia brevitarsis. Interestingly, the feed with 10% SCC increased larval weight by 3.5 times. For the larval period, the group of 10% SCC was significantly shorter than the control. Furthermore, minerals such as Zn, Ca, K, Mg, Na, and P were recorded to be high in 10% SCC. A total of 17 amino acids were present in 10% SCC, of which tyrosine and arginine were predominant. The heavy metal contents were very small amounts or not detected in any of the investigated groups. These findings provided a scientific basis for the utilization of soybean curd cake as a nutritional feed source to promote larval growth and produce quality insects.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.655-663
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• 2018

The insect gut microbiome is known to have important roles in host growth, development, digestion, and resistance against pathogens. In addition, the genetic diversity of the insect gut microbiota has recently been recognized as potential genetic resources for industrial bioprocessing. However, there is limited information regarding the insect gut microbiota to better help us understand their potential benefits for enhanced pig production. With the development of next-generation sequencing methods, whole genome sequence analysis has become possible beyond traditional culture-independent methods. This improvement makes it possible to identify and characterize bacteria that are not cultured and located in various environments including the gastrointestinal tract. Insect intestinal microorganisms are known to have an important role in host growth, digestion, and immunity. These gut microbiota have recently been recognized as potential genetic resources for livestock farming which is using the functions of living organisms to integrate them into animal science. The purpose of this literature review is to emphasize the necessity of research on insect gut microbiota and their applicability to pig production or bioindustry. In conclusion, bacterial metabolism of feed in the gut is often significant for the nutrition intake of animals, and the insect gut microbiome has potential to be used as feed additives for enhanced pig performance. The exploration of the structure and function of the insect gut microbiota needs further investigation for their potential use in the swine industry particularly for the improvement of growth performance and overall health status of pigs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.702-707
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• 2017

Insects and their extract have been traditionally used as medicinal resources in Asia. Recently, Gryllus bimaculatus and the larva of Tenebrio molitor, Protaetia brevitarsis, and Allomyrina dichotoma were enlisted as general food ingredients by Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. As the interest in these insects is growing, the detailed investigation is needed for the standardization of suitable and safe rearing techniques. This survey was conducted via personal interviews about edible insect rearing farms in Korea. The basic feed is fermented oak sawdust for P. brevitarsis and A. dichotoma and wheat bran for T. molitor. The various feed additives are blended with each farm's own recipes. The overall growth condition, including sawdust fermentation method, feeding period, and rearing density, varies among the investigated farms. It seems that weight of last instar larva was correlated with the rearing density and duration of the larval period. The heavy metal contents were analyzed after 48 hour starvation and they were very small amount or not detected in investigated insects. We believe that the present data will contribute to develop and standardize the safe rearing techniques of edible insects in Korea.