A comprehensive dynamic growth and development model of Hermetia illucens larvae

Abstract

Larvae of Hermetia illucens, also commonly known as black soldier fly (BSF) have gained significant importance in the feed industry, primarily used as feed for aquaculture and other livestock farming. Mathematical models such as the Von Bertalanffy growth model and dynamic energy budget models are available for modelling the growth of various organisms but have their demerits for their application to the growth and development of BSF. Also, such dynamic models were not yet applied to the growth of the BSF larvae despite models proven to be useful for automation of industrial production process (e.g. feeding, heating/ cooling, ventilation, harvesting, etc.). This work primarily focuses on developing a model based on the principles of the afore mentioned models from literature that can provide accurate mathematical description of the dry mass changes throughout the life cycle and the transition of development phases of the larvae. To further improve the accuracy of these models, various factors affecting the growth and development such as temperature, feed quality, feeding rate, moisture content in feed, and airflow rate are developed and integrated into the dynamic growth model. An extensive set of data was aggregated from various literature and used for the model development, parameter estimation and validation. Models describing the environmental factors were individually validated based on the data sets collected. In addition, the dynamic growth model was also validated for dry mass evolution and development stage transition of larvae reared on different substrate feeding rates. The developed models with the estimated parameters performed well, highlighting their potential application in decision-support systems and automation for large scale production.

The Effect of Rearing Scale and Density on the Growth and Nutrient Composition of Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) Larvae

“…Padmanabha et al [30] have used data from Barragan-Fonseca et al [29] and Diener et al [40] to fit a Monod type function for a dynamical growth model of BSFL. Combining the results of Padmanabha et al [30] and this work, Figure 8 shows how this work's data also relate to the data of Barragan-Fonseca et al [29] and Diener et al [40]. The overall quality of fit seems good (R 2 = 0.87).…”

“…The above Monod equation was already used to obtain the relationship between the feed density and development and growth rates of BSFL [30]. In this work, the same equation was used in addition to data from other studies to compare the results and identify the resulting growth rate.…”

“…The density also influences other physical phenomena such as heat storage and evaporation, which change the feed properties and consequently affect the growth of the larvae. In this context, a model-based approach has been proposed using a Monod-type equation to describe the functional relation between substrate density and growth rate [30].…”

Predicting black soldier fly larvae biomass and methionine accumulation using a kinetic model for batch cultivation and improving system performance using semi-batch cultivation

“…S2) which showed that BSF larvae follow a logistic curve and reach a stationary growth phase based on the transformation from early prepupa to late pupa (Fig. S2) and prior research [16,29]. In the model validation, methionine accumulation was overpredicted.…”

Comparative Lipid Profile Analysis of Hermetia illucens Larvae Fed Food Waste at Different Days of Age Using an LC-MS-Based Lipidomics Approach

“…Indeed, the developmental stages influenced the size distributions of the adipocytes ( Park et al 2018 ). In addition, larval stage would deposit a large amount of fat to accumulate energy for later development into adults (not eating) ( Padmanabha et al 2020 ). Interestingly, the significantly upregulated TGs were rich in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SFAs and MUFAs) in the present study.…”