The nutritional and biochemical evaluation of the protein quality of some popular insects consumed in Southern Nigeria was investigated. Thirty six (36) young weanling male albino rats (Wistar strain) of about 23 days old, grouped into six (6) groups of six (6) animals per group, were fed separate diets containing 10% protein by weight of the test diets, casein diet and a protein free (corn starch) diet for twenty eight (28) days. The diets contained adequate amounts of all other required nutrients. Results showed that the PER of the insects expressed as percentage of that obtained for casein were 94.26%, 71.31%, 96.72% and 107.38% respectively for Oryctes rhinoceros (OR) larva, Imbrasia belina (IBL) larva, Macrotermis belicosus (MB) and Rhynchophorus pheonicis (RP) larva, while the BV for the different insects were 87.94±4.14, 86.82±3.89, 88.55±7.89, and 88.95±8.14 respectively for OR, IBL, MB and RP. Results obtained for the net protein ratio (NPR), protein retention efficiency (PRE), and true digestibility (TD) for the insects show that they were comparable to values observed for the casein control and the observed slight differences were not significant at 95% confidence limit. The relative weights (g/kg live weight) of the organs namely liver, spleen, heart, kidney and lungs were not affected by feeding the animals using the insects as source of protein (P?¢???0.05). Haematological and toxicological parameters assayed for were not significantly different from the control (P>0.05), but the serum ALP and ALT values were slightly higher while AST values were lower than that of the control (P≤0.05) for animals fed IBL diet. The plasma protein and blood urea levels were similar to values observed for the casein standard diet and the slight differences were not significant at 95% confidence limit. These observed results suggest the insects to be good sources of essential nutrients, which could go a long way in helping to solve most nutritional problems in many developing countries. Entomophagy should be encouraged as a good alternative towards solving the PEM problem facing many third world countries.
