Artificial diets for neonatal black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae

This study determined the optimal nursery diet for neonatal black soldier fly (BSF) ( Hermetia illucens ) larvae. The standard specifications of a poultry layer hen (feed source often used for larvae rearing) was used for the formulation of the control diet (L120), whilst an iso-nitrogenous and iso-energetic diet was formulated that included animal protein (10% spray dried blood meal; L120B). Also, the carcass milling technique was used to determine the ideal amino acid profile of the animals. Two diets were subsequently formulated according to this profile i.e. a plant protein based diet (IAAP) and a diet containing 10% spray dried blood meal (IAAPB). Thirdly, the addition of sterols to the diets were tested with the addition of sterols in the form of pork brains (3%) to both the L120 and IAAP diets. Lastly, a commercial store bought layer mash was used as a second control diet. These seven treatments were replicated eight times in 100 ml pill pots, each pot being inoculated with 100 neonates. Results obtained showed that the inclusion of animal protein in the diet significantly increased survivability by 25% from 69.8±3.98 to 91.3±4.26% in layer mash diets which was similar to that of the other blood meal diets (92.0±3.98 and 93.9±3.98%, respectively). The treatments that included a sterol source yielded the lowest number of larvae. The change in physical characteristics of these diets probably resulted in the low yield rather than the sterols per se and further research in this regard is recommended. In this study cheaper, more efficient feeds were developed for feeding BSF neonates using the ideal amino acid profile of the animals which resulted in the establishing of an initial matrix for the nutrient requirements of these animals.