In vitro crude protein digestibility of Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens insect meals and its correlation with chemical composition traits
2015
Stefania Marono | Giovanni Piccolo | Rosa Loponte | Carmelo Di Meo | Youssef A. Attia | Antonino Nizza | Fulvia Bovera
The aims of this study were to evaluate the correlation between <em>in vitro</em> crude protein digestibility coefficients of insect meals from <em>Tenebrio molitor</em> (TI) and <em>Hermetia illucens</em> (HI) and their chemical composition traits as well as to develop regression equations able to estimate the <em>in vitro</em> crude protein digestibility (CPd) from proximate analysis of insect meals. Twelve samples of insect meals (6 from TM larvae, TM 1-6 and 6 from HI larvae, HI 1-6) were obtained from different producers and analysed for chemical composition and in vitro crude protein digestibility by a two-step enzymatic method (digestion with pepsin and trypsin-enriched pancreatin). For both insect meal samples, CPd was negatively correlated to ADF and chitin contents, while just for HI there was a positive correlation (P<0.01) between CP percentage of the samples and CPd. For both insect meals the former variable chosen in the stepwise analysis was the chitin, explaining the 79.45% of CPd variability for <em>Tenebrio molitor</em> samples and the 98.30% for <em>Hermetia illucens</em>. In the second step, the amount of protein linked to ADF was added in the model for <em>T. molitor</em> and CP for <em>H. illucens</em> samples. The coefficients chitin is the main constituent of insect body able to affect the crude protein digestibility of <em>Tenebrio molitor</em> and <em>Hermetia illucens</em> larvae meals estimated by an in vitro enzymatic method.
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