Diets Containing Defatted Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal Improve Intestinal Morphology and Antioxidant Capacity in Wenchang Chickens
- 1Animal Nutrition and Feed Laboratory, School of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Danzhou 571737, China
Abstract
Background/Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of dietary defatted black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal (DBSFLM) as a partial replacement of traditional dietary protein sources on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, serum biochemical and antioxidant-related parameters, ileal morphology, and cecal microbiota in Wenchang chickens. Methods: Ninety healthy 55-day-old male chickens were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments with six replicates of five birds each: a basal diet without DBSFLM (H0), or diets containing 3% (H3) or 5% (H5) DBSFLM for 26 days. Results: Average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio did not differ significantly among treatments (p > 0.05). Abdominal fat percentage was higher in H5 than in H0 (p < 0.05), whereas other measured carcass traits were unaffected. No significant differences were observed in the measured meat quality parameters, including pH, drip loss, cooking yield, shear force, and meat color (p > 0.05). Dietary DBSFLM increased serum glutathione peroxidase activity and decreased malondialdehyde concentration, while serum creatinine concentration decreased in both DBSFLM groups (p < 0.05). DBSFLM also decreased ileal crypt depth and increased the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (p < 0.05). Changes in the relative abundances of Firmicutes_A, Proteobacteria, Akkermansia, Butyricicoccaceae, and Agathobaculum were observed in cecal microbiota. Conclusions: Overall, partial replacement of traditional dietary protein sources with 3–5% DBSFLM was associated with changes in selected serum parameters, ileal morphology, and cecal microbial composition, without significant differences in growth performance or most measured meat quality traits.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026diets,
title = {{Diets Containing Defatted Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal Improve Intestinal Morphology and Antioxidant Capacity in Wenchang Chickens}},
author = {Qingchao Yang and Ruiying Bao and Liangmin Huang and Xingke Wang and Yang Zhang and Qingying Cai and Zeru Peng and Huiyu Shi and Haiwen Zhang and Xiaochun Li and Xuemei Wang},
journal = {Metabolites},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/metabo16100767},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/16/10/767},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Diets Containing Defatted Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal Improve Intestinal Morphology and Antioxidant Capacity in Wenchang Chickens
AU - Qingchao Yang
AU - Ruiying Bao
AU - Liangmin Huang
AU - Xingke Wang
AU - Yang Zhang
AU - Qingying Cai
AU - Zeru Peng
AU - Huiyu Shi
AU - Haiwen Zhang
AU - Xiaochun Li
AU - Xuemei Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - Metabolites
DO - 10.3390/metabo16100767
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/16/10/767
AB - Background/Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of dietary defatted black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal (DBSFLM) as a partial replacement of traditional dietary protein sources on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, serum biochemical and antioxidant-related parameters, ileal morphology, and cecal microbiota in Wenchang chickens. Methods: Ninety healthy 55-day-old male chickens were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments with six replicates of five birds each: a basal diet without DBSFLM (H0), or diets containing 3% (H3) or 5% (H5) DBSFLM for 26 days. Results: Average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio did not differ significantly among treatments (p > 0.05). Abdominal fat percentage was higher in H5 than in H0 (p < 0.05), whereas other measured carcass traits were unaffected. No significant differences were observed in the measured meat quality parameters, including pH, drip loss, cooking yield, shear force, and meat color (p > 0.05). Dietary DBSFLM increased serum glutathione peroxidase activity and decreased malondialdehyde concentration, while serum creatinine concentration decreased in both DBSFLM groups (p < 0.05). DBSFLM also decreased ileal crypt depth and increased the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (p < 0.05). Changes in the relative abundances of Firmicutes_A, Proteobacteria, Akkermansia, Butyricicoccaceae, and Agathobaculum were observed in cecal microbiota. Conclusions: Overall, partial replacement of traditional dietary protein sources with 3–5% DBSFLM was associated with changes in selected serum parameters, ileal morphology, and cecal microbial composition, without significant differences in growth performance or most measured meat quality traits.
SN - 2218-1989
ER -