Fatty acid profile of lipids and caeca volatile fatty acid production of broilers fed a full fat meal from Tenebrio molitor larvae

Volatile fatty acid production (VFA) in the caeca and fatty acid profile of meat and fat depotswere investigated on 62 days old broiler equally divided in 2 groups fed with a corn-soybean(SBM) or a corn-insect meal (TML, fromTenebrio molitorlarvae) based diet from 30 days of age.The total amount of VFAs was higher (p<.01) in broilers fed TML and the same happened forall the single VFA studied in the trial. When the VFAs were expressed as percentage of totalVFAs, acetate, propionate and valerianate were higher (p<.01) in SBM group, while the propor-tion of butyrate was higher (p<.01) in broilers fed TML. The fatty acids C12:0 and C14:0 hadhigher percentages (p<.01 andp<.05, respectively) in the intramuscular fat of broilers fed TMLdiet. Regarding the FA groups (SFA, MUFA and PUFAs), only the PUFAn1 fatty acids were higher(p<.01) in the broilers fed TML diet. Insect meals can affect the microbial activity in broilercaeca and, in addition, induced very few modifications in the fatty acid profile of broiler breast.