Preliminary studies on the complete replacement of fishmeal by house-fly-larvae-meal in weaner pig diets: Effects on growth rate, carcass characteristics, and some blood constituents

English

Ten Large White weaners with an average liveweight of 10.6 kg were assigned to two diets containing either fishmeal or house-fly-larvae-meal as the main protein source. The average daily gains of the pigs were 0.25 and 0.29 kg for the fishmeal and house-fly-larvae-meal diets, respectively. Feed conversion ratios were 3.64 and 3.29, and feed cost per kg gain were ¢2735.18 and ¢2470.89 for the fishmeal and house-fly-larvae-meal diets, respectively. Dressing percentage, fat measurements, and eye muscle area were not significantly affected (P<0.05) by the dietary treatments. The carcass fat contents were, however, higher in the house-fly-larvae-meal-fed pigs. The weights of joints and cuts expressed as a proportion of carcass weight were not significantly affected (P <0.05) by diet. The blood parameters studied, i.e., packed cell volume (PCV) and haemoglobin, were not significantly affected (P <0.05) by diet. House-fly-larvae-meal could, therefore, be used to replace dietary fishmeal completely without compromising growth performance and the economics of pig rearing.

Dankwa, D.; Oddoye, E. O. K.; Mzamo, K. B.