Dog food containing insects? Studies on compound feed with larvae of the black soldier fly as the main protein source

The aim of the present study was to provide detailed data on the apparent digestibility (aD) of crude nutrients as well as the faecal parameters and the palatability of compound feeds for dogs. In addition, two protein sources were investigated as supplements in a series of comparative experiments. The compound feeds were based on either poultry protein (chicken) or insect protein (Black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens) as the main protein source (both produced by Marsapet GmbH, Bornheim, Germany), and were prepared either by extrusion or pelleting. The comparative experiments dealt with the effects of adding either poultry meal or H. illucens (HI) meal to a vegetarian compound feed. The aD of the raw nutrients varied at a substantially similar level for all of the compound feeds tested. The crude protein aD did not differ significantly (78.2-80.5%) between the two processing methods (extruding/pelleting). However, the aD of the raw fat was significantly higher when using HI meal either as part of the compound feed or when given with the individual feed components. One possible explanation for this could be the fatty acid pattern of poultry meal (which has not been characterised in detail) or its higher Ca content with respect to HI meal. The insect meal seemed also to cause a positive effect on faecal quality, presumably due to increased water binding in the faeces.