Growth Potential of Yellow Mealworm Reared on Industrial Residues

Abstract

Since the world’s population will continue to grow in the next decades, the problem of providing people with food will deepen. One-third of the food production volume is wasted while nearly one in ten people in the world suffer from hunger. To reduce the negative impact of human activity on the environment and meet the needs of the population, alternative sources of protein are proposed. Yellow mealworm larvae can be used as a source of food and animal feed. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the growth performance, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and efficiency of ingested feed (ECI) by yellow mealworm larvae fed 13 different diets containing chicken feed (CF), rapeseed meal (RM), wheat bran (WB) and willowleaf sunflower (WS) residues after the process of supercritical CO2 extraction. The mean dry individual bodyweight for all diets used in the experiment was 31.44 mg dry matter (d.m.) Mealworms fed diet mixes that contained WB demonstrated the highest dry individual larval weight (from 40.9 to 47.9 mg d.m.). A significantly lower dry individual larval weight was found for mealworms fed solely WS residues (3.9 mg d.m.). The FCR ranged from 1.57 to 2.08, for pure CF and pure WS diet, respectively. The ECI of yellow mealworm larvae varied significantly (mean value 20.1%) and depended on the diet. Moreover, the ECI of mealworm was significantly the lowest and amounted to 5.9% for the pure WS diet. The industrial residues investigated in this study can be successfully used for mealworm farming, excluding pure willowleaf sunflower residues.

Influence of Different Diets on Growth and Nutritional Composition of Yellow Mealworm

“…The highest FCRdf (2.52) was found for mealworms fed on the RB 100 diet, while the other four diets formed an intermediate group between the best and worst FCR with values from 2.22 (WB 100, WB/FC, WB/SMc) to 2.23 for WB/RB. A slightly lower FCR (from 1.57 to 2.08) was obtained in another study for mealworm larvae feed on different mixes that contained chicken feed and some industrial byproducts (rapeseed meal, wheat bran, and willowleaf sunflower, pure or mixed with chicken feed in different proportions-25, 50, and 75%) [24].…”

“…Insects were fed the experimental diets (from 20 g to 150 g) and carrots (from 10 g to 40 g). Wheat bran was chosen as a control diet, based on the results of our previous study, in which this feed resulted in the highest weight of larvae and the shortest larval development period [24]. Feed was supplied weekly.…”

“…The FCR values depend mostly on the nutritional quality and moisture content (especially of carrots) of the byproducts used, being extremely high, from 4.35 [32] up to 19.1 for low protein content high-fat diets [26]. The consumption of carrots is very often excluded from the FCR and ECI calculations [24][25][26] because of their high-water content and low concentration of nutrients. However, the present study took into account the dietary carrot, even though the FCR values would be increased.…”

Apparent Digestibility Coefficients of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens), Yellow Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), and Blue Bottle Fly (Calliphora vicina) Insects for Juvenile African Catfish Hybrids (Clarias gariepinus × Heterobranchus longifilis)

“…MW belongs to the order Coleoptera, and it has been produced in large quantities since the 1950s, initially for fishing bait and later for pet food and for the songbird feed market. Nowadays, thousands of tons of dry mealworm are produced and sold worldwide [27][28][29]. The MW can grow and reproduce when fed exclusively on wheat bran or additional food supplements [30,31].…”

Composting the Invasive Toxic Seaweed Rugulopteryx okamurae Using Five Invertebrate Species, and a Mini-review on Composting Macroalgae

“…Within the insect group, the larvae of various species of tenebrionid beetles (dark beetles) have also been used as consumers of various types of organic waste [55,56] and even plastics [57]. With a seaweed-based diet, the species Zophobas morio showed good consumption and growth results [58].…”