Abstract

Common housefly (Musca domestica) is one of the insects that is found in almost all parts of the world, it is found in diverse habitats making its life cycle stages such as larvae and pupae readily available for foraging poultry on free range systems. Large commercial poultry farms world-wide are experiencing low supply of animal based proteins and excess organic wastes generated from the farms. Common housefly prepupae has proved to be the solution based on their ability to valorize the organic wastes and a potential to be used as source of protein for fish, poultry and pigs. The study-site was Farhan Farm in Msabaha, Kilifi County, Kenya, and the main objective was determining the nutritive value of M. domestica prepupae reared on selected broiler by-products. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) replicated three times was used. The selected broiler by-products in the study which served as treatments were manure (droppings), blood, crop content, visceral rejects and broiler carcasses. Chemical analysis was done at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Laboratory in Kakamega. Results showed that M. domestica reared on carcasses had the highest crude protein (45.83%), compared to those reared on blood (41.54%), crop content (33.18%), visceral rejects (33.14%) and manure (30.65%). The difference in growth performance and nutritive value of prepupae from the five treatments showed that there is effect of substrate on nutritive value of prepupae. In conclusion, the best performing treatments in terms of nutritive values were carcasses, blood, visceral rejects, crop content and manure in that order.

Key words: Musca domestica prepupae, nutritive value, protein.