Metabolic processes and rumen digestion in sheep when fat is fed from Hermetia illucens larvae

Abstract

The article examines the effect of fat obtained from the dried larva of Hermetia illucens on the metabolic processes and rumen digestion in Romanov sheep. The obtained research results showed that fat feeding did not affect the level of total blood protein (81,03 vs. 82,27 g/l; p>0,05) with almost the same ratio of albumin to globulins (0,75 vs. 0,82; p>0,05). The level of urea in the animals of the experimental group was also at the control level (6,16 vs. 6,93 mmol/l; p>0,05). A higher level of AST in the blood serum of the experimental animals by 25,5% (p<0,05), with a General orientation to the increase of the ratio of AST/ALT (p>0,05). Fat feeding resulted in an increase in the level of total bilirubin in to 78,3% (p<0,01), and 25,5% (p<0,05) in AST levels compared to the control, which may indirectly indicate an intensification of metabolic processes in animals of this group, with almost the same level of alkaline phosphatase. In the sheep of the experimental group, there was a slight increase in the fermentation processes in the rumen, as evidenced by an increase in the level of VFA by 6,9% with a decrease in pH by 0,13 units, with an increase in the concentration of ammonia by 24,5% by 3 hours after feeding compared with the indicators of the control group.