Conversion of organic material by black soldier fly larvae: establishing optimal feeding rates
Abstract
Larvae of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), are voracious feeders of organic material and may thus be used in simple engineered systems to reduce organic waste in low- and middle-income countries. Controlled feeding experiments with standard fodder were conducted to assess the optimum amount of organic waste to be added to a CORS system (Conversion of Organic Refuse by Saprophages). A daily feeding rate of 100 mg chicken feed (60% moisture content) per larva resulted in an optimum trade-off between material reduction efficiency (41.8%, SE 0.61) and biomass production (prepupal dry weight: 48.0 mg, SE 2.0). Applied to market waste and human faeces, this corresponds to a potential daily feeding capacity of 3—5 kg/m 2 and 6.5 kg/m 2 , respectively. In addition, H. illucens prepupae quality was assessed to determine their suitability to substitute fishmeal in animal feed production. The chitin-corrected crude protein content ranged from 28.2 to 42.5%, depending on the amount of food provided to the larvae. Based on our study, a waste processing unit could yield a daily prepupal biomass of 145 g (dry mass) per m 2 . We conclude that larvae of the black soldier fly are potentially capable of converting large amounts of organic waste into protein-rich biomass to substitute fishmeal, thereby contributing to sustainable aquaculture.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Chicken feed mixed with water (60-70% moisture content) is suitable for rearing BSFL.
“Chicken feed mixed with water (60–70% moisture content) was used as an attractant and rearing substrate for house flies, and studies have shown that it is also suitable for rearing BSFL [71,72].”
From Potential Applications of Frass Derived from Black Soldier Fly Larvae Treatment of Food Waste: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [71]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Barragan-Fonseca, K. B., Dicke, M., & van Loon, J. J. A. (2017) · Journal of Insects as Food and Feed · doi:10.3920/jiff2016.0055 · Cited by 771 · see citing works
The future supply of animal-derived protein for human consumption
Boland, M. J., Rae, A. N., Vereijken, J. M., Meuwissen, M. P. M., Fischer, A. R. H., van Boekel, M. A. J. S., Rutherfurd, S. M., Gruppen, H., Moughan, P. J., & Hendriks, W. H. (2013) · Trends in Food Science & Technology · doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2012.07.002 · Cited by 524 · see citing works
Surendra, K. C., Tomberlin, J. K., van Huis, A., Cammack, J. A., Heckmann, L.-H. L., & Khanal, S. K. (2020) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2020.07.050 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
Lalander, C., Diener, S., Magri, M. E., Zurbrügg, C., Lindström, A., & Vinnerås, B. (2013) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.033 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Self-citationGOBBI, P., MARTÍNEZ-SÁNCHEZ, A., & ROJO, S. (2013) · European Journal of Entomology · doi:10.14411/eje.2013.061 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Singh, A., & Kumari, K. (2019) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109569 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Klammsteiner, T., Turan, V., Fernández-Delgado Juárez, M., Oberegger, S., & Insam, H. (2020) · Agronomy · doi:10.3390/agronomy10101578 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
A Review of Organic Waste Treatment Using Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)
Amrul, N. F., Kabir Ahmad, I., Ahmad Basri, N. E., Suja, F., Abdul Jalil, N. A., & Azman, N. A. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su14084565 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
“Higher WRI values indicate a good reduction efficiency [9].”
BackgroundBioconversion of Three Organic Wastes by Black Soldier Fly (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) Larvae
Liu, Z., Minor, M., Morel, P. C. H., & Najar-Rodriguez, A. J. (2018) · Environmental Entomology · doi:10.1093/ee/nvy141 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Hermetia illucens (L.) larvae as chicken manure management tool for circular economy
Bortolini, S., Macavei, L. I., Saadoun, J. H., Foca, G., Ulrici, A., Bernini, F., Malferrari, D., Setti, L., Ronga, D., & Maistrello, L. (2020) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121289 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Growth of Black Soldier Fly Larvae Reared on Organic Side-Streams
Broeckx, L., Frooninckx, L., Slegers, L., Berrens, S., Noyens, I., Goossens, S., Verheyen, G., Wuyts, A., & Van Miert, S. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su132312953 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
“Larval density and the amount of diet provided had a negative influence on waste reduction [60,61].”
BackgroundRehman, K. U., Ur Rehman, R., Somroo, A. A., Cai, M., Zheng, L., Xiao, X., Ur Rehman, A., Rehman, A., Tomberlin, J. K., Yu, Z., et al. (2019) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.048 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
da Silva, G. D. P., & Hesselberg, T. (2020) · Neotropical Entomology · doi:10.1007/s13744-019-00719-z · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Basri, N. E. A., Azman, N. A., Ahmad, I. K., Suja, F., Jalil, N. A. A., & Amrul, N. F. (2022) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods11172664 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Bioactive Compounds from Hermetia Illucens Larvae as Natural Ingredients for Cosmetic Application
Almeida, C., Rijo, P., & Rosado, C. (2020) · Biomolecules · doi:10.3390/biom10070976 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Julita, U., Lusianti F, L., Eka Putra, R., & Dana Perma, A. (2020) · Journal of Entomology · doi:10.3923/je.2020.117.127 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Growth of Black Soldier Fly (<i>Hermetia illucens</i>) Larvae Fed on Spent Coffee Ground
Permana, A. D., & Ramadhani Eka Putra, J. E. N. (2018) · IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science · doi:10.1088/1755-1315/187/1/012070 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
- Authors
- Diener, S., Zurbrügg, C., & Tockner, K.
- Affiliations
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Diener, Stefan
- Venue
- Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-06-05
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 603-610
- ISSN
- 0734-242X (ISSN-L)
- 1096-3669
- OpenAlex
- W2128800094
- Cited by
- 820
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 66 · 2025: 77 · 2024: 77 · 2023: 101 · 2022: 98 · 2021: 108 · 2020: 74 · 2019: 60 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 7.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Waste Management & Research The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DORA Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect Utilization and Effects
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Forensic Entomology and Diptera Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Composting and Vermicomposting Techniques
- Keywords
- Hermetia illucens, organic waste conversion, fishmeal substitution, aquaculture feed, chicken feed, human feces, market waste, protein content, low- and middle-income countries
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Animal Feed, Diptera, Energy Metabolism, Feeding Behavior, Female, Larva, Male, Refuse Disposal, Aquaculture, Insect Proteins
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
