Growth characteristics and meat quality of broiler chickens fed earthworm meal from Eudrilus eugeniae as a protein source

Abstract The demand and cost of animal-based protein sources for broiler chickens production like fish meal has increased in many countries. An alternative protein source can be earthworm meal (EWM). A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementing broiler chickens diets with EWM derived from dried Eudrilus eugeniae on growth performance, carcass attributes, and the meat quality of broiler chickens. The starter and finisher basal diets were formulated to contain 10% fish meal and it was replaced with 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7% EWM. For the experiment, 150 one-day-old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to the 5 diets with 3 pens per diet and 10 broiler chickens per pen. Based on the data recorded in the experiment, the body weight gain (BWG), and the feed intake (FI) were computed. At 6 wk of age, 3 broiler chickens were randomly selected from each pen to assess their organ weights and sensory characteristics. Overall, there was a quadratic and cubic effect on BWG when EWM supplementation was increased (P