New research project "Poultrynsect" launched

insect larvae as innovative feed for poultry

The start for the project and also the first work already began in November 2020, but with the successful kick-off meeting on 11 January 2021, the project has now officially begun for all partners.

Poultrynsect is a research project developed by a consortium of scientists of expertise in various fields, from research and academic institutions from Belgium, Italy, Norway and Germany. The project aims to test live insect larvae as an innovative feed ingredient for slow growing organic chickens, allowing more sustainable meat production, improving animal welfare and potentially meeting consumer demand for healthier and more natural meat products with enhanced palatability. Insect larvae will be reared on organic side-streams, allowing valorization of secondary raw materials, and then used as feed ingredient and environmental enrichment for chickens. Live insect larvae will be evaluated also for their potential to improve chicken performance traits, animal welfare, gut microbiota and bird immunity system. The project will contribute to development of cost-effective and environmental-friendly diets for poultry, aiming at improving organic meat chicken production sustainability.

Working on overall sustainability contribution of implementation of the project results, the DIL Food Data Group will analyze:
1. Flows of nutrients, energy, degrees of recycling, conversion efficiency;
2. Associated direct and indirect environmental impact and
3. Socio-economic performance (including consumer attitude).

Poultrynsect is a project within the ERA-NET CORE Organic Cofund SUSFOOD2 grant program. The project is a collaboration between 5 international partners; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy), University of Turin (Italy), DIL (Germany), Inagro (Belgium) and Nofima (Norway).