Starting with Sustainability: Utilizing food Wastes as Nursery Feed for Black Solder Fly Neonates

Abstract

With black soldier fly (BSF) larvae being recognized as effective waste convertors, the global market for BSF industry is projected to grow substantially in the coming decade. However, using non-waste materials in the bioconversion process increases the environmental footprint of the BSF industry [e.g.: chicken feed (CF) as primary neonatal nursery meal]. In this study, we first tested if industrial food wastes (i.e., okara, biscuit meal, dried fish, coconut.) can be substitute diets for BSF neonates. Next, we tested three formulated meals based on the nutritional properties of the well-performing nursery diets from the first test/previous literatures. In the first test, we observed significant differences in neonatal growth when food wastes were directly used as nursery meals, and the initial weight of neonates influenced the development time of the larvae, with smaller neonates exhibiting prolonged larval duration. In contrast, the formulated meals performed well in promoting the growth of neonates, and the larval development showed no significant difference by day eight in the post-nursery rearing. In summary, our findings indicate that by meeting specific nutritional requirements, formulated diets made from industrial food waste could serve as a viable replacement for CF as nursery meals, resulting in a significant boost in the sustainability of the BSF industry.Graphical