1Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
2Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
3Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
* For correspondence: Tel: 603–8946 6899; Fax: 603–8943 2954; E-mail: tcloh@agri.upm.edu.my
To study the effect of worm meal (WM) as partial replacement of soybean and fish meals in the diets, a total of 245 day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to five different treatment groups (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% WM) in partial replacement of soybean and fish meals for a period of 6 weeks. The final body weight, growth rate and feed efficiency of the 10% and 15% WM groups broiler were better (P<0.05) than that of the control group with no effect on feed intake. The digestibility of crude protein for WM was 63%. 10% WM group gave a higher (P<0.05) lactic acid bacteria counts and showed no significant difference (P>0.05) in Enterobacteriaceae count or fecal pH. These results suggest that WM could be used to replace soybean and fish meals between 10 to 15% in broiler diets.
Earthworm, worm meal, soybean meal, fish meal, broiler
