Background and Objective: Maggots seem to be one of the promising alternatives of animal protein for livestock. One of the characteristics of the Far-North Region, Cameroon, is the abundance of house flies during the hot ambient periods of the year. The present work aims to produce maggots and assess the growth performance and physiological status of cockerel-fed maggot meal as a protein substitute for fish meal. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 40 cockerels (6 weeks), weighing 151.08±35.27 g, all from a producer of layer chicks, were used. Birds were randomly allocated to 4 treatments, each containing 10 cockerels. The 4 treatment groups were respectively fed different diets from the beginning to the end of a 5th week experiment. Formulated diets contained maggot meal (MM) and substituting fishmeal (FM) at graded levels, 0, 25, 50 and 75%. Throughout the experiment, feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded weekly. At the end of the experiment, haematological parameters and production costs were evaluated. Results: The daily feed intake, the daily energy intake, the daily protein intake and the feed conversion ratio were not significantly (p>0.05) different between treatments. As compared to a diet containing only fish meal (R0), the daily body weight gain of cockerels fed on a diet containing 75% maggot meal was significantly lower (p<0.01). As compared to a diet containing only fish meal, the feed cost per kg of body weight gain, obtained in cockerels fed a 75% maggot meal diet, increased by 14.5%. Haematological parameters were not affected by treatments (p>0.05). Conclusion: From this study, it can be concluded that the house fly maggot meal can be used safely in cockerel nutrition but fish meal replacement by house maggot meal should not exceed 50% in cockerel. PDFFulltextXMLReferencesCitation
How to cite this article
Cyrille dAlex Tadondjou Tchingo, Roger Ponka, Samuel Babissi, Mamoudou Oumarou, Ferdinand Ngoula and Alexis Teguia, 2022. Growth Performance and Haematological Parameters of Cockerel Fed House Fly Larvae as a Substitute to Fish Meal. Asian Journal of Animal Sciences, 16: 37-44.