Fiona Tansil's MSc Defence

As food and animal protein demand increases, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) meal has gained interest in the past couple of years for use in animal feed as an alternative protein ingredient. Black soldier fly larvae is an attractive protein source; however, it is important to evaluate its protein quality before incorporation in feed formulation. The global objectives of this thesis were to determine the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) coefficient of amino acid (AA) and metabolic availability (MA) of methionine using the indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) method from BSFL meal, and to compare the results from the two protein quality methodologies. The SID coefficient of indispensable AA in BSFL meal was found to be above 83%, while the MA of methionine was found to be 53.33% (APE). This finding further confirms that SID coefficient tends to overestimate AA bioavailability and that MA is a more accurate representation of bioavailability.