The Nutrient Profile of Processed and Unprocessed Maggot Meal from Three Substrates

Abstract

The proximate composition of housefly larvae (Musca domestica) maggot meal produced from a four (4) days old larvae raised in a mixture of three substrates: cow manure + cow blood (CMM), swine manure + cow blood (SMM), and poultry manure + cow blood and harvested on day 4 were determined. Harvested maggots were oven-dried at constant temperature (90o c) at different time regimes (35minutes, 45minutes, and 55minutes). Each treatment was named according to the substrate source and processing time: (CMM35, CMM45, CMM55, SMM35, SMM45, SMM55, PMM35, PMM45, PMM55). Results revealed that maggot meal contains 35.95-43.62% crude protein, fat ranged between 8.00-16.86%; Ash content ranged between 5.82-9.30%; crude fibre was between 1.15-2.91%, Moisture content was between 2.00-8.80% and nitrogen free extract (NFE) ranged between 29.2- 45.74%. Amino acids analysis identified 19 amino acids including 10 essential amino acids (EAA). The amino acids in CMM, SMM, PMM include: arginine, valine, lysine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, histidine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, threonine, alanine, aspartate, glutamate, glycine, tyrosine, cysteine, proline serine and asparagine. The methionine content in the meals ranged between 3.78- 4.66 g/100g protein. The treatment CMM55 recorded the highest level of methionine (4.66 g/100g protein) compared to 2.49 g/100g protein in fishmeal. The crude protein of maggot meal is maximized if with poultry manurederived maggot meal that is oven processed for 55 minutes (43.62%).