EFFECT OF DIETARY INCLUSION OF LIVE INSECT LARVAE (BLACK SOLDIER FLY, AND YELLOW MEALWORM) ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN VISCERAL ORGANS IN MUSCOVY DUCKS.

With the increasing world population, natural resources are decreasing rapidly. So, scientists are looking for alternate sources of feed ingredients (which require less land, energy, and water) to meet the increased requirement. Insects are a good alternative to conventional feed resources (e.g., fish meal, soy meal, and corn meal) to meet the protein and fat requirement in animals. This is the first experiment where live insect larvae (HI, and TM, 5 % of the expected DFI) have been used as enrichment in Muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata domestica) diet. To evaluate the growth performance, histological changes in the visceral organs (spleen, liver, thymus, bursa of Fabricius, heart), intestine, abdominal fat, as well as the composition and the quality of the meat. This experiment (in a controlled environment) consists of three experimental treatments (control group having ad libitum commercial diet, and HI and TM groups with HI and TM live larvae supplementation at the 5 % of the expected DFI + commercial diet) with six replicate/treatment and seven birds in each replicate. After the final evaluation of growth performance, 36 birds (2 birds from each replicate) were slaughtered on the 55th day of age, and the carcass traits e.g., slaughter weight (SW), hot carcass (HC), and chilled carcass (CC), breast, thigh yield, percentage of spleen, liver, heart, and bursa of Fabricius) were recorded. Furthermore, liver, spleen, intestine, heart, thymus, bursa of Fabricius samples were collected for the histopathological investigations. Statistical analyses showed that the addition of live insect larvae in the diet of the Muscovy ducks has no significant effect on the live weight (LW), ADG, DFI, FCR, and the carcass traits (SW, HC, CC, breast and thigh yield, percentage of spleen, liver, heart, bursa of Fabricius) when compared to the control group. Moreover, histomorphological and histopathological parameters were not influenced by the addition of live insect larvae. In conclusion, enrichment of live insect larvae in the diet of ducks has no negative effect on the growth, visceral organs, and histomorphological parameters of ducks.