Abstract: Proteins represent the second largest component of animal diet.However,the shortage of feed protein ingredients in China has restricted the healthy and sustainable development of animal husbandry severely.As a kind of euryphagous insect,Tenebrio molitor has strong reproductive ability and high output,and also has high contents of crude protein,chitin,unsaturated fatty acids,and vitamins.It can be extracted some biological active substances with the functions of antibacterial,anti-inflammatory and immune regulation.Moreover,it also has many other advantages,such as short growth cycle,easy to raise in commercial and less requirement of land.Therefore,it has the potential to become a new feed protein resource,thus alleviating the current shortage of feed protein raw materials.It is reported that Tenebrio molitor can partially replace conventional protein feed in animal diets,increase growth or production performance of animals,improve the product quality,and improve the body health status.In this review,the author elaborated the nutritional ingredients of Tenebrio molitor and nutrient digestibility of livestock and poultry to Tenebrio molitor,and summarized the functions of Tenebrio molitor for partial replacement of conventional feed protein materials on the basis of literature review:Increasing the growth or production performance of livestock and poultry,improving the slaughter performance and products quality of poultry,regulating the material metabolism,enhancing the antioxidant and immune abilities,and promoting the intestinal health of livestock and poultry.The auther also prospected for the Tenebrio molitor application in animal production,in order to provide a theoretical basis for it using in animal production.

Key words: Tenebrio molitor; nutritional characteristic; livestock and poultry; application