Three diets were formulated, i.e., soybean meal (SM diet), adult Acheta domesticus (AD diet), and Tenebrio molitor larvae (TM diet), as the main crude protein (CP) sources. A total of 45 rabbits (Hyplus, weaned at 32 days of age) were divided into three groups (15 per treatment) and fed one of the three diets for 42 days. A higher daily weight gain (p = 0.042), as well as daily feed intake (p = 0.022), was observed in rabbits fed the AD and TM diets than in rabbits fed the SM diet within 21 days after weaning. The coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of gross energy were higher (p = 0.001) in rabbits fed the SM diet than in rabbits fed the other diets. The CTTAD of CP (p = 0.040) and starch (p = 0.041) was higher in rabbits fed the SM diet compared to those fed the AD diet. There were non-significantly higher losses of nitrogen in the urine (an average by 0.227 g/day; p = 0.094) in rabbits fed the TM diet than in rabbits fed the other diets. It can be concluded that the growth of rabbits and nitrogen output were not detrimentally affected by the insect meal (AD or TM) used in this study.

Department of Animal Science Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague 165 00 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Automation and Control Engineering Faculty of Applied Informatics Tomas Bata University in Zlín Nad Stráněmi 4511 760 05 Zlín Czech Republic

Department of Food Analysis and Chemistry Faculty of Technology Tomas Bata University in Zlín Vavrečkova 5669 760 01 Zlín Czech Republic

Department of Microbiology Nutrition and Dietetics Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague 165 00 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Microelectronics Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication Brno University of Technology Technická 3058 10 616 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Nutritional Physiology and Animal Product Quality Institute of Animal Science Přátelství 815 104 00 Prague Czech Republic

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