1 EFFECT OF DRIED MEALWORM LARVAE PROBIOTICS ON QUALITY AND OXIDATIVE STABILITY OF MEAT IN BROILERS Md. Manirul Islam 1,2 , Hong-Seok Mun 1 , A.B.M. Rubayet Bostami 1 and Chul-Ju Yang 1 * 1 Department of Animal Science and Technology, Sunchon National University, 255 Jungangno Suncheon, Jeonnam 540-950, Republic of Korea 2 Department of Animal Science and Nutrition, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Zakir Hossain Road, Khulshi, Chittagong 4225, Bangladesh * Corresponding author: yangcj@scnu.kr Abstract - The study was conducted to evaluate the dry mealworm larvae probiotics (DMLP) on meat quality and oxidative stability in broilers. A total of 320 day-old Ross 308 male broiler chicks were randomly assigned into four dietary treatments: control (basal diet); 0.2% DMLP (basal diet + 0.2% DMLP); 0.4% DMLP (basal diet + 0.4% DMLP); and 0.8% DMLP (basal diet + 0.8% DMLP) on DM basis in a completely randomized design. Results showed that crude protein content decreased (quadratic, P<0.004) and crude ash content increased (linear, P<0.05) in breast meat. A linear decrease in myristic acid (P=0.01) and dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA) (P<0.002) and increased nervonic (P<0.004) and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) (P=0.07) in breast meat, while fatty acid content in thigh meat remain unchanged except reduced myristic acid (P=0.003). The cholesterol content and oxidative rancidity were reduced linearly (P<0.05) both in breast and thigh meat. Therefore, DMLP can be supplemented as an alternative feed additive to improve meat quality in broiler. Key Words: Broilers, Dry mealworm larvae, Meat quality. I. INTRODUCTION It is an important goal to produce animal protein from animal sources by reducing the environmental impact to feed the overgrown population in the world. The yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) is a member of the Tenebrionidae family of the insect order Coleoptera. Ramos-Elorduy et al. [1] investigated and reported the great potential of T. molitor to be used as a protein source for broilers (up to 10 % inclusion in the diet) and the production cost at the industrial level would be significantly lower. Considering the meat quality, Ojewola et al. [2] found that fishmeal exhibited no superiority over any of the other diets (with grasshopper meal) in terms of the carcass quality of broiler chickens. Thus the objective of this study was to evaluate the dried mealworm (T. molitor) larvae fermented with probiotics (DMLP) as functional feed additives on composition, fatty acid profile and oxidative stability of meat in broilers. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted at the experimental broiler house of Sunchon National University (Suncheon, Republic of Korea). A total of 320 day-old male broiler chicks Ross 308 were randomly allocated into four treatment groups consisting of ten replications with eight birds in each in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments were: 1) control (basal diet); 2) 0.2% DMLP (basal diet + 0.2% DMLP, DM basis); 3) 0.4% DMLP (basal diet + 0.4% DMLP, DM basis), and 4) 0.8% DMLP (basal diet + 0.8% DMLP, DM basis). Commercially available broiler diets formulated according to the NRC [3] were used as basal diet, and the