Year: 2026 | Month: April | Volume 16 | Issue 2
Growth Performance of Broilers Fed Earthworm Meal as an Alternative Protein Source
Aadil Ahmad
Nazam Khan
Ramesh Kumar Sharma
Vikas Mahajan
Akhil Verma
Imran Ahmad Ganai
Taiba Tariq and Qazi Shehriyar Sahib*
DOI:10.30954/2277-940X.02.2026.4
Abstract:
The current study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding earthworm meal (EWM) as unconventional protein source on growth traits of broiler chickens. A total of 240 day-old, straight-run,Cobb broiler chicks were randomly allocated to five treatment groups (48 birds per group) as per completely randomized design (CRD); each group comprising four replicates of 12 birds. The control group (C) received no EWM, whereas in treatment groups, EWM was incorporated @ 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% and designated as T1, T2, T3, and T4, respectively. All the experimental diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. The growth trial was conducted for a period of 42 days; the feed intake and body weight were recorded on weekly intervals. The inclusion of EWM up to 2% had no significant effect (p<0.05) on periodic feed intake, body weight changes, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). The results indicated that EWM can be safely incorporated up to 2% in broiler diets as an alternative protein source.
Highlights
- Inclusion of EWM upto 2% had no significant effect on feed intake and body biometrics of broilers.
- EWM can safely replace conventional protein sources upto 2% without compromising broiler performance.
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