Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae as an Ecological, Immune Booster and Economical Feedstuff for Aquaculture

Abstract

Black soldier fly larva can renovate biological trashes into valuable nutrients, for instance, proteins, lipids, and chitin, which decrease ecological encumbrance happening due to organic wastes accumulation. Even though rapid demand for proteinaceous food is predictable, insects got less attention in the animal feed business primarily due to technical and monetary hurdles. Moreover, many times research highlighted the consumer and producer preferences for insects' meal potential in livestock feeding. This review is anticipated to elucidate the prominence of black soldier fly larvae meal as a substitute to conventional feedstuffs including soybean and fishmeal and soybean oil ensuring productive, cost proficient, environmentally friendly, least land necessitating, least pathogenic risk, immunity-boosting, purely organic and everlasting source of nonconventional protein feedstuff for aquatic habitats.

Use of black soldier fly larvae and freshwater shrimp to partly substitute commercial diet for Nile tilapia cultured in smallholder fish farms – A case study in Busia County, Kenya

“…The feed intake and feed costs were significantly higher for the CN diet than the other diets, and consequently, the economic feed conversion ratio of the CN diet was also the highest causing a higher break-even yield. This study confirms that the use of BSFL and CN as alternative sources of protein increases the profitability of fish farming, which concurs with the results of other studies that worked with fish (Mugo-Bundi et al, 2015;Ngugi et al, 2016;Onsongo et al, 2018;Chia, 2019;Shit, 2021;Wachira et al, 2021;Çetingül and Shah, 2022;Limbu et al, 2022). Interestingly, it has further been demonstrated that utilization of CN can effectively substitute up to 75% of fish meal without compromising growth performance, survival, nutrient utilization and economic benefits, however, when substitution was as high as 100%, the performances declined (Mugo-Bundi et al, 2015).…”

Eumelanin from the Black Soldier Fly as Sustainable Biomaterial: Characterisation and Functional Benefits in Tissue-Engineered Composite Scaffolds

“…In recent years, the farming of BSF ( Hermetia illucens ) has gained attention as a means to obtain proteins and fats for the animal feed industry while valorising both homogeneous and heterogeneous food waste that might otherwise be destined for the incinerator or landfill. Massive farms now exist worldwide, processing hundreds of tons of homogeneous waste streams [ 17 , 18 ]. The life cycle of the BSF consists of five life stages: egg, larva, pre-pupa, pupa and adult.…”