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. 2019 Mar 19;9(3):98.
doi: 10.3390/ani9030098.

Evaluation of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae and Pre-Pupae Raised on Household Organic Waste, as Potential Ingredients for Poultry Feed

Kiyonori Kawasaki  1 , Yuka Hashimoto  2 , Akihiro Hori  3 , Toshiya Kawasaki  4 , Hirofumi Hirayasu  5 , Shun-Ichiro Iwase  6 , Atsushi Hashizume  7 , Atsushi Ido  8 , Chiemi Miura  9   10 , Takeshi Miura  11 , Satoshi Nakamura  12 , Tomohiro Seyama  13 , Yoshiki Matsumoto  14 , Koji Kasai  15 , Yasuhiro Fujitani  16
Affiliations

Evaluation of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae and Pre-Pupae Raised on Household Organic Waste, as Potential Ingredients for Poultry Feed

Kiyonori Kawasaki et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and pre-pupae could be satisfactorily raised on household organic waste and used as poultry feed, offering a potential sustainable way to recycle untapped resources of waste. The present study was conducted to determine if whole (non-defatted) BSF larvae and pre-pupae raised on experimental household waste could substitute soybean meal and oil as ingredients for laying hen diets. While no significant differences in feed intake and the egg-laying rate of hens were observed throughout the experiment, egg weight and eggshell thickness were greater in the pre-pupae-fed group than in the other groups. Moreover, although diversity of the cecal microbiota was significantly higher in the pre-pupae-fed than in the control group, no significant differences in bacterial genera known to cause food poisoning were observed when comparing the treatment groups. Nonetheless, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium populations were significantly lower in the treatment than in the control group. Fat content in BSF was possibly related with the changes in the cecal microbiota. Hence, since BSF fat was deficient in essential fatty acids, special attention should be paid to the fat content and its fatty acid composition in the case of regular inclusion of BSF larvae and pre-pupae oil as an ingredient in poultry diets.

Keywords: black soldier fly; egg quality; laying hens; microbiota; poultry feed; sustainable feed production.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare. The funders had no role in the design of the study, writing of the manuscript or decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Microbial communities in the gut of experimental hens collected after 5 weeks of BSF larvae and pre-pupae dietary supplementation (C: n = 9; L: n = 10; P: n = 10). α-diversity indices for control and experiment hens. C: control diet; L: larvae diet; P: pre-pupae diet.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Microbial communities in the gut of experimental hens collected after 5 weeks of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and pre-pupae dietary supplementation (C: n = 9; L: n = 10; P: n = 10). Unweighted UniFrac distance principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plots of β-diversity measurement of the microbiota communities. C: control diet; L: larvae diet; P: pre-pupae diet.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Microbial communities in the gut of experimental hens collected after 5 weeks of BSF larvae and pre-pupae dietary supplementation (C: n = 9; L: n = 10; P: n = 10). Weighted UniFrac distance principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plots of β-diversity measurement of the microbiota communities. C: control diet; L: larvae diet; P: pre-pupae diet.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparative analysis of the taxonomic composition of microbial communities at the genus level (C: n = 9; L: n = 10; P: n = 10). Representative genera with significant differences between groups are indicated by the histograms and P value determinations, as calculated by STAMP software. C: control diet; L: larvae diet; P: pre-pupae diet.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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