Askar Nametov , Alzhan Shamshidin , Aruzhan Nugmanova *, Arman Sabyrzhanov , Zhanylsyn Makhimova and Nazerke Baktygerey
Zhangir Khan Agrarian Technical University, Uralsk, Republic of Kazakhstan
*Corresponding author: aru_kyz_90@mail.ru
This study evaluated the effect of graded dietary inclusion of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal at 2%, 3%, and 6% on nutrient digestibility and growth performance in Medeo meat ducks. The experiment was conducted at Zhangir Khan West Kazakhstan Agrarian and Technical University, Oral, Republic of Kazakhstan, during 2023–2024. Four-hundred-day-old ducks (50 males and 50 females per group) were assigned to four dietary treatments: a basal control diet and three experimental diets supplemented with 2, 3, or 6% BSFL meal. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance in SPSS, with differences considered statistically significant at P<0.05. Body weight at 49 days in the 6% group exceeded the control by 23.7% in males (3675.42 vs. 2971.96 g) and 16.6% in females (3311.42 vs. 2839.06 g); average daily gain over the 0–49-day rearing period was correspondingly 20.6 and 17.0% higher than in the control (P<0.05). Crude fat digestibility in the 6% group was 5.0 percentage points higher than in the control in both sexes, and crude protein digestibility was 3.2 (males) and 4.0 (females) percentage points higher than in the control (P<0.05). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to combine a graded BSFL inclusion range with sex-stratified digestibility and growth measurements in meat-type ducks reared under the cereal-based, soybean-reduced feeding conditions of West Kazakhstan, and the results identify 6% as the most effective inclusion level within the tested range.