Effect of Dietary Soybean Meal Replacement with a Combination of White Lupine Seeds and Insect Meals on the Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, and Meat Quality of Rabbits

Dorota Kowalska; Janusz Strychalski; Andrzej Gugołek

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0112

Effect of Dietary Soybean Meal Replacement with a Combination of White Lupine Seeds and Insect Meals on the Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, and Meat Quality of Rabbits

Annals of Animal Science

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (August 2026)

By: Dorota Kowalska, Janusz Strychalski and Andrzej Gugołek

Open Access

|Sep 2026

Figures & Tables

Table 1.

Chemical composition (% of fresh matter) and measured energy content (MJ/kg) of soybean meal (SBM), white lupine seeds (WLS), silkworm pupae meal (SPM), mealworm larvae meal (MLM), and Zophobas larvae meal (ZLM)

Item	Component
Item	SBM	WLS	SPM	MLM	ZLM
Dry matter	88.01	88.23	94.15	94.53	96.36
Crude ash	6.32	3.75	3.89	3.42	3.58
Crude protein	46.16	36.46	51.32	47.52	41.00
Ether extract	1.57	8.42	26.38	33.53	39.36
NDF	12.53	17.74	5.47	10.85	10.15
ADF	7.30	14.11	8.31	6.59	7.17
ADL	0.64	0.93	2.49	2.15	2.08
Lysine	2.75	1.65	2.63	3.02	2.93
Methionine + cystine	1.46	0.91	1.48	3.98	3.85
Threonine	1.68	1.21	1.73	2.44	2.32
Tryptophan	0.63	0.24	0.40	0.80	0.74
Gross energy	17.45	18.58	24.53	26.16	26.97

[i] NDF – neutral detergent fiber, ADF – acid detergent fiber, ADL – acid detergent lignin.

Table 2.

Ingredients of rabbit diets (%)

Ingredient	Group
Ingredient	Control	SPM+WLS	MLM+WLS	ZLM+WLS
1	2	3	4	5
Soybean meal (SBM)	10	–	–	–
Silkworm pupae meal (SPM)	–	5	–	–
Mealworm larvae meal (MLM)	–	–	5	–
Zophobas larvae meal (ZLM)	–	–	–	5
White lupine seeds (WLS)	–	5	5	5
Wheat bran	27	27	27	27
Alfalfa meal	26	26	26	26
Barley	16.5	18	18	18
Dried beet pulp	10	10	10	10
Corn	6	6	6	6
Rapeseed oil	1.5	–	–	–
Salt	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Ground limestone	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3
Feed phosphate	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Vitamin-mineral premix	1	1	1	1

Table 3.

Chemical composition (% of fresh matter) and measured energy content (MJ/kg) of rabbit diets

Item	Group
Item	Control	SPM+WLS	MLM+WLS	ZLM+WLS
Dry matter	89.03	89.16	89.08	89.17
Crude ash	7.57	8.32	8.44	8.40
Crude protein	15.97	15.96	15.78	15.53
Ether extract	3.86	4.06	4.27	4.52
NDF	23.27	23.43	24.37	24.29
ADF	11.93	12.81	12.20	12.43
ADL	2.71	3.02	2.95	2.91
Lysine	0.74	0.71	0.70	0.69
Methionine + cystine	0.46	0.45	0.59	0.56
Threonine	0.58	0.55	0.58	0.56
Tryptophan	0.21	0.19	0.20	0.19
Gross energy	16.47	16.50	16.55	16.58

[i] WLS – white lupine seeds, SPM – silkworm pupae meal, MLM – mealworm larvae meal, ZLM – Zophobas larvae meal, NDF – neutral detergent fiber, ADF – acid detergent fiber, ADL – acid detergent lignin.

Table 4.

Growth performance and carcass characteristics of rabbits

Item	Group				P-value
Item	Control	SPM+WLS	MLM+WLS	ZLM+WLS	P-value
BW at 35 days of age (g)	773.9±18.69	781.4±17.37	778.5±17.27	782.2±18.25	0.982
BW at 91 days of age (g)	2488.4±68.23	2483.7±73.92	2511.7±81.84 a	2403.7±64.86 b	0.037
BWG (g/d)	30.62±1.42 a	30.40±1.36	30.95±1.47 a	29.18±1.31 b	0.045
FCR (g/g gain)	3.62±0.10	3.58±0.11	3.66±0.13	3.71±0.12	0.251
Mortality (%)	0	0	0	0	1.000
DP (%)	57.73±0.47 a	57.63±0.38	56.97±0.42	56.38±0.40 b	0.024
Fore part (%)	36.27±0.17	35.86±0.15	35.65±0.17	36.14±0.16	0.130
Loin (%)	26.73±0.12	26.80±0.13	27.17±0.14	26.85±0.13	0.538
Hind part (%)	37.00±0.16	37.34±0.16	37.18±0.17	37.01±0.15	0.621
DM (%) in loin	28.90±0.86 a	26.61±0.20 b	27.30±0.28 b	26.54±0.26 b	0.021
CA (%) in loin	1.14±0.01	1.16±0.01	1.14±0.01	1.15±0.01	0.440
CP (%) in loin	23.16±0.44	23.40±0.36	23.24±0.32	23.54±0.34	0.606
EE (%) in loin	2.56±0.30 b	2.68±0.23	2.93±0.37 a	3.13±0.26 a	0.039

WLS – white lupine seeds, SPM – silkworm pupae meal, MLM – mealworm larvae meal, ZLM – Zophobas larvae meal, BW – body weight, BWG – body weight gain, FCR – feed conversion ratio, DP – dressing percentage, DM – dry matter, CA – crude ash, CP – crude protein, EE – ether extract.

a, b – values marked with different letters in a row differ significantly (P≤0.05).

Table 5.

Content of selected compounds in the loin of rabbits

Item	Group				P-value
Item	Control	SPM+WLS	MLM+WLS	ZLM+WLS	P-value
Lysine	9.38±0.19	9.11±0.14	8.94±0.19	9.09±0.06	0.307
Methionine	2.89±0.08 b	2.93±0.06 b	3.21±0.04 a	3.04±0.11	0.045
Cystine	1.22±0.06	1.16±0.03	1.12±0.05	1.15±0.03	0.504
Threonine	4.70±0.04	4.67±0.06	4.79±0.07	4.63±0.03	0.206
Tryptophan	1.36±0.02 a	1.14±0.05 b	1.10±0.03 b	0.90±0.02 c	˂0.001
Total essential amino acids	38.82±0.37 a	37.54±0.21 b	38.84±0.50 a	37.78±0.26 b	0.029
Total SFAs	42.23±0.47 a	38.40±0.40 c	39.77±0.21 b	40.14±0.24 b	0.002
C16:1 (palmitoleic)	6.96±0.56 a	6.21±0.91	6.86±0.77	4.40±0.88 b	0.029
C18:1 (oleic)	28.46±0.26 b	30.05±0.24 a	29.65±0.25 a	30.14±0.23 a	0.006
Total MUFAs	35.43±0.73	36.28±1.16	36.53±0.98	34.61±0.96	0.507
C18:2 (linoleic)	15.84±0.26 c	15.87±0.64 c	17.05±0.81 b	18.14±0.64 a	0.041
C18:3 (α-linolenic)	5.08±0.20 b	6.95±0.49 a	4.47±0.17 b	4.27±0.16 b	<0.001
C20:4 (arachidonic)	1.21±0.34 b	2.08±0.19 a	1.91±0.21	2.56±0.40 a	0.038
Total PUFAs	22.32±0.35 b	25.31±0.92 a	23.69±1.14 b	25.24±0.87 a	0.042
6/3 PUFAs	3.31±0.17 c	2.53±0.17 d	4.12±0.11 b	4.67±0.21 a	<0.001
S/P	0.72±0.06 a	0.61±0.06 b	0.65±0.05	0.66±0.06	0.018
Cholesterol (mg/g)	0.60±0.02 a	0.62±0.02 a	0.58±0.01	0.56±0.01 b	0.040
Retinol (µg/g)	0.21±0.04 a	0.15±0.03	0.15±0.01 b	0.19±0.00	0.032
α-tocopherol (µg/g)	5.25±0.83 a	3.92±0.52 b	4.36±0.17	4.66±0.21	0.026
Collagen (g/100 g)	0.62±0.06	0.56±0.04	0.65±0.06	0.57±0.03	0.594

WLS – white lupine seeds, SPM – silkworm pupae meal, MLM – mealworm larvae meal, ZLM – Zophobas larvae meal, SFAs – saturated fatty acids, MUFAs – monounsaturated fatty acids, PUFAs – polyunsaturated fatty acids.

a, b, c, d – values marked with different letters in a row differ significantly (P≤0.05).

Table 6.

Concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (μmol/g) in the large intestine of rabbits

Acid	Group				P-value
Acid	Control	SPM+WLS	MLM+WLS	ZLM+WLS	P-value
Acetic	60.97±8.95 a	50.30±3.25	46.07±7.40 b	43.84±4.26 b	0.038
Propionic	5.38±0.55 a	4.08±0.28 b	3.87±0.59 b	3.22±0.46 c	0.007
Isobutyric	0.21±0.03 a	0.16±0.01 b	0.22±0.04 a	0.15±0.01 b	0.042
Butyric	19.75±3.25 a	16.33±1.06 b	15.14±2.17 b	12.79±1.72 c	<0.001
Isovaleric	0.41±0.04 a	0.34±0.02 b	0.36±0.05 b	0.32±0.02 c	0.004
Valeric	1.19±0.11 a	0.81±0.07 b	0.75±0.06 b	0.61±0.06 c	<0.001

WLS – white lupine seeds, SPM – silkworm pupae meal, MLM – mealworm larvae meal, ZLM – Zophobas larvae meal.

a, b, c – values marked with different letters in a row differ significantly (P≤0.05).

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2025-0112 | Journal eISSN: 2300-8733 (formerly 1642-3402) | Journal ISSN: 1642-3402

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Language: English

Page range: 1289 - 1297

Submitted on: Mar 21, 2025

Accepted on: Sep 1, 2025

Published on: Sep 6, 2026

Published by: National Research Institute of Animal Production

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

rabbit feeding,

silkworm pupae meal,

mealworm larvae meal,

Zophobas larvae meal,

short-chain fatty acids

Related subjects:

Medicine,

Veterinary medicine

© 2026 Dorota Kowalska, Janusz Strychalski, Andrzej Gugołek, published by National Research Institute of Animal Production
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (August 2026)