Comparing DL-Methionine and liquid methionine hydroxy analogue supplemented in a 65:100 weight ratio in black soldier fly larvae nutrition
In this trial three graded levels of DL-Methionine (DL-Met) or liquid methionine hydroxy analogue (MHA-FA) were supplemented in 65:100 weight ratio in corresponding treatments to a non-supplemented basal diet. Even though a bioefficacy of 65% was assumed for MHA-FA a priori resulting in 54% higher inclusion levels, performance of black soldier fly larvae fed MHA-FA was behind that of DL-Met fed larvae. It is concluded that the bioefficacy of MHA-FA might be even lower than 65% in black soldier fly larvae. The results indicated that supplementing DL-Methionine to substrate improves productivity and feed utilization of black soldier fly larvae production.
It was interesting to see that black soldier fly larvae responded to supplemented methionine sources while obviously DL-Met outperformed MHA-FA
Global Senior Expert Poultry, Evonik
The aim of this trial was to investigate whether supplementing methionine to an apple pomace-based substrate can improve productivity of black soldier fly larvae. In addition, the concept of 65% bioefficacy of MHA-FA was included in the experimental design.
Location: Fraunhofer Institute of Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Giessen, Germany
Project team leaders: Dr. Patrick Klüber, Dr. Andreas Lemme, Thomas Häußner
| Animals | 2,100 Hermetia Illucens larvae (5.7 mg/larva) distributed to 21 boxes with 100 larvae each |
| Design | Simultaneous dose-response design including a basal, non-supplemented dietary treatment and 3 graded levels of both Dl-Met and MHA-FA |
| Housing | 19.5 x 16.5 x 9.5 cm boxes at constant temperature of 27 °C |
| Diets | Apple pomace (56.6-56.9%), corn starch (32.3%), amino acid mix excluding methionine (7.3-7.6%)
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| Feeding | 25 g dry substrate were soaked with water to achieve about 65 % moisture |
| Parameters | Final individual body weight, final biomass, feed conversion |
| Duration | Days 1-14 |
Trial results
- Supplementation of 0.21% DL-Met increased individual larva dry matter weight by 6% whereas higher supplementation levels did not further improve larva weights (Figure 1).
- Although assuming a bioefficacy of 65% resulting in higher supplementation levels than DL-Met inclusions, MHA-FA supplementation did not affect individual larva weights (Figure 1).
- Overall final biomass (dry matter) was increased by 7% with DL-Met supplementation whilst biomass of MHA-FA fed black soldier fly larvae was 1 to 4% behind DL-Met fed larvae (Figure 2).
- Feed conversion ratio (on dry matter basis) was improved by 8% with DL-Met supplementation. MHA-FA was 1 to 5% less effective than DL-Met (Figure 3).
