Agricultural value of Black Soldier Fly larvae frass as organic fertilizer on ryegrass

Abstract

Hermetia illucens L., known as Black Soldier Fly (BSF) appear as an opportunity to reuse vegetable by-products, as it is easy to reproduce and can be reared in agricultural side streams, allowing the production of both, animal feed (the larvae, after recycling of the vegetal debris) and soil organic fertilizer (insect frass). Although several organic fertilizers, from long ago, have been used in agriculture, there is yet a paucity of experimental data on the evaluation of the fertilization potential of BSF larvae frass (BSFF). The present study is a contribution to access the agronomic and environmental potential of the BSFF as an organic fertilizer. Within this aim, it was conducted a greenhouse experiment with ryegrass, using seven treatments of BSFF. Under the experimental conditions, the results showed a significant effect of BSFF on the overall ryegrass production, with a steady increase (significant at p 0.05, as accessed through the Tukey test) up to the treatment with a greater rate of application. In what concerns sustainability of soil productivity, at the end of the experiment, there was also positive indications, namely, a significant increase of OM, P and K, for treatments with higher N endowments, together with a constant increase of dehydrogenase activity, from the control to the higher treatment, which was significant for treatments receiving the higher dose of BSFF.

Black Soldier Fly-Composted Organic Fertilizer Enhances Growth, Yield, and Nutrient Quality of Three Key Vegetable Crops in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…The higher crude protein, fat, fiber, and ash concentrations achieved using composted BSF frass as fertilizer indicate that in addition to enhancing vegetable yields, the BSFFF is effective in increasing the nutritional quality of vegetable crops. The higher crude protein, fat, fiber, and ash concentrations achieved using BSFFF ( Table 7 , Figure 2 ) are comparable to values reported in previous studies (van der Lans et al, 2012 ; Chakwizira et al, 2015 ; Dunsin et al, 2016 ; Mukta et al, 2016 ; Meena et al, 2018 ; Yoder and Davis, 2020 ) and could be attributed to the high uptake of N ( Table 6 ) and other nutrients by crops grown using this organic fertilizer (Beesigamukama et al, 2020b ; Menino et al, 2021 ). Information on the nutritional quality of vegetable crops grown using BSFFF is still scarce.…”

“…Most research on the use of BSFFF has been conducted using non-vegetable crops (Beesigamukama et al, 2020b,c;Menino et al, 2021), except Quilliam et al (2020) who used chili pepper and shallots, but this study did not investigate the nutritional quality of the crops involved. It should be noted that different crops have different nutrient requirements, and thus require different fertilizer application rates.…”

“…Insect mass rearing systems produce huge quantities of frass (a combination uneaten substrate, feces, and exuviae) with a great potential for improving soil and crop productivity (Kagata and Ohgushi, 2012 ; Poveda et al, 2019 ; Beesigamukama et al, 2020b ; Houben et al, 2020 ; Quilliam et al, 2020 ; Menino et al, 2021 ). Black soldier fly (BSF) ( Hermetia illucens L.) frass fertilizer (BSFFF) is a byproduct from bioconversion of organic wastes using BSF larvae into nutrient-rich and hygienic organic fertilizer (Erickson et al, 2004 ; Lalander et al, 2015 , 2016 ).…”

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“…The 3 rd Pillar aims to obtain organic fertilizers, with potential already confirmed in the immediate and deferred fertility of agricultural soil [8].…”

Method for Zero-Waste Circular Economy using worms for plastic agriculture: Augmenting polystyrene consumption and plant growth

“…As larvae, they can be bred at high density to excrete nitrogen [11] and chitin rich [12,13] frass waste that was shown capable of substituting traditional NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) fertilizers [14–16] in a circular economy [15]. The use of insect frass as alternatives to commercial fertilisers was recently shown with black soldier fly frass demonstrating to support the growth of maize [17,18] and ryegrass [19]. With reports that superworms were able to consume PS at a higher rate than mealworms [20], there is promise of superworms joining mealworms in the fight against PS waste.…”