Effect of feeding Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) and Anchovy by-product on egg weight, fertility, hatchability and embryonal mortality in Japanese quail

Feed raw materials are becoming more expensive, particularly protein sources such as fish meal and soybean meal. Protein sources in feed play an important role in the development of animal tissues. As a result, good protein sources are required for animal growth and tissue generation, which will have an impact on growth performance and production. The majority of protein sources used to produce feed in Malaysia are imported from other countries, which is expensive and affects production costs. Anchovy waste and Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) have the potential to be used as protein substitutes in poultry feed due to less expensive cost and easier to obtain. This study is performed to observe the effects of feeding BSFL, and anchovy by-product on the egg weight, fertility, hatchability, and embryonal mortality in Japanese quail. The group treatment of this study constructed as control group which composed of 100% of soybean meal as protein sources, Treatment 1 and Treatment 2 group which consists of 50% BSFL, 50% anchovy waste and 25% BSFL, 75% anchovy waste as substitution of protein sources, respectively. The eggs were obtained from 6 weeks old quail. The results shown for the egg weight, the control group recorded the lowest. Differences among eggs weight (p<0.05) for the treatment 1 and treatment 2 groups were significant and not significant at the control groups. The highest production of egg was found in Treatment 1 however Treatment 2 was determined the highest FR (p>0.05), HR (p>0.05) and HFE (p>0.05), 100%, 21.53% and 21.53%, respectively. In conclude, this analysis shows a positive impact on egg weight, as evidenced by the treatment 2 group, which consists of 25% BSFL and 75% anchovy by-products as a protein source composition.