Abstract
Insects were considered a sufficient sustainable and alternative source of nutrients for poultry, watermelon bug is the main pest ofwatermelons in Sudan. The insect meal contain high protein with relatively cheap price. This study was conducted to evaluate using watermelon bug meal as protein source on broiler chickens' diet. 144 one-day-old chicks were distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with 4 treatments and 3 replicates of 12 birds. A control, B, C and D, (treatments), the powder of insects 0, 10, 20, and 30g/kg rations, was carried for 6 weeks. Weekly record of feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were taken. Data were analyzed by ANOVA the standard error of the mean (SEM) was used to measure how far the sample mean of the data is likely to be from the true population mean. Adding watermelon bug meal (WMBM) to the diet at 10, 20, and 30 % WMBM of feed essentially increased the body weight of chickens from 395.87g in the first week with concentration of 10 % to 1715.00g in the fifth week, followed by C (20 %) inclusion of WMBM which increased the body weight from 380.13g to 1773.33g, respectively. The highest FCR was recorded in D (30 %) WMBM feed. There was a significant difference in the means weight of heart, and gizzard. The blood analysis revealed no increase in the percentage of cholesterol while there were significant (p < 0.05) differences in total protein and triglycerides. Significant differences were observed in flavor, texture and juiciness values among all treatments. In conclusion, the current results confirmed that the addition of WMBM to the diet of broiler chickens can improve growth and meat performance.