Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad Researching Alternative Feed for Poultry – Support of Science Fund and Colleagues from Netherlands

From the New Year 2024, the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad is starting the project “Upgrade of Sustainable Solutions through Development of Insect-Based Proteins as New Options for Animal Feed PRO SUSTAIN”, which will be carried out at the Agro campus in Temerin – The National Research and Education Center for Innovative Technologies in Agriculture.

The essence of the project consists in seeking alternative feed, where proteins will be replaced with insect larvae.

For those needs, the Faculty of Agriculture will use a mealworm larvae farm in order to test the possibility of using this food in animal feed, more concretely, for chicks, since the campus in Temerin features the Center for Poultry Research.

According to Sasa Krstovic, PhD, assistant professor, from the Department for Livestock Farming, the idea is for certain technological processes to be used in order to get a high-protein feed rich in amino acids from the insect larvae, which would be a replacement for soy, or some other traditional sources of protein, whereby waste from the mill industry and products that are not suitable for animal feed, or can’t be used for that purpose, will be used to feed to insect larvae. That way, he emphasized, circular economy will be connected, and a new, refined, product will be obtained.

– The project will begin with us first having to produce sufficient quantities of larvae, the next will be the technological preparation of food, the testing and experimenting on chicks, in order to monitor the results and other characteristics that are important in feed – Krstovic explained and added:

– We will blanche the larvae, dry them, ground them, make the feed and the test whether such feed is safe for chicks, and finally, we will feed them that mixture and follow their growth.

Science Fund financing the project

The project of the Faculty of Agriculture was accepted and supported for financing at a contest by the Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia within the PRIZMA invitation. It will last three years and cost EUR 300,000, Dejan Beukovic, PhD, assistant professor, the director of the Department for Livestock Farming, said at a public discussion:

– The team will feature young agricultural engineers from two departments, for livestock farming and for plant protection. The project has attracted attention from foreign institutes which deal with the same topic, so the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad established contact with Wageningen University in the Netherlands, the most significant one in Europe when it comes to research and education in agriculture.

Poljoprivredni fakultet Novi Sad

Agro campus Temerin

The National Research and Education Center for Innovative Technologies in Agriculture Temerin

Center for Poultry Research

Wageniningen University

Saša Krstović

Dejan Beuković

Upgrade of Sustainable Solutions through Development of Insect Based Proteins as New Options for Animal Feed PRO SUSTAIN

alternative feed

insect larvae instead of protein

mealworms

Prizma invitation