Asian Journal of Research in Animal and Veterinary Sciences

A total of 180-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks were brooded for two weeks before being randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (D1, D2 and D3) in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatment D1 was a commercial broiler diet as a control, while Diet D2 contained 5% cockroach meal and Diet 3 having 5% fishmeal as sources of animal protein in the two formulations. The birds were replicated four times in each dietary treatment and raised in groups of 15 birds in a pen. Feed intake and   growth performance was assessed for a period of 28 days, when 20 birds from each treatment were slaughtered and carcass traits and meat quality attributes assessed. Cockroach meal contained higher crude protein (72.14%) and essential amino acids than fishmeal. Birds fed the diet containing cockroach meal (D2) achieved comparable final body weight (1896.0 g) and weight gain (1586.5 g) to those on the commercial diet, with superior (P<0.05) feed conversion ratio (1.37), while those on fishmeal diet (D3) performed least (1.59). Birds fed on diets D1 and D2 had similar (P>0.05) weights of carcass (1515.37 g and 1394.0 g, respectively) and prime cuts (breast, thighs and drumsticks) and these weights were greater (P<0.05) than from those on D3. The parameters of meat quality traits were not (P>0.05) affected by diet, except for the values of pH and yellowness (b*), which were higher (P<0.05) in diet D2 (pH=6.22, b* = 9.45) compared to D3 (pH=5.71, b* =6.85). In conclusion, replacing fishmeal with cockroach meal supported efficient growth, improved carcass yield, and maintained acceptable meat quality. These findings suggest that cockroach meal is a promising, sustainable, and cost-effective protein source for broiler production. Further studies are recommended to establish the optimal level of inclusion of cockroach meal for enhanced growth performance of broiler chickens.