STUDYING DEVELOPMENT OF HERMETIA ILLUCENS FLY LARVAE CULTIVATED ON HIGH CELLULOSE PLANT SUBSTRATES

Olga V. Yurina, Vasilij P. Karagodin

Abstract: Hermetia illucens L. larvae with experimentally confirmed morphological and genetic characteristics were grown on plant substrates with 4.3% to 19.0% cellulose content: crushed corn kernels, wheat bran, beet pulp, and distillery stillage. It has been determined that the larvae are able to grow rapidly on the plant substrates during 10-14 days until the prepupal stage if optimal conditions are maintained, i.e.: air temperature (28°C) and substrate humidity about 60%. The highest substrate conversion was demonstrated for corn kernels and was equal to 77% in 14 days. A biomass yield of 181 g from 1 kg of substrate was obtained. With wheat bran the conversion was 64%, process time: 10 days. Distillery stillage and beet pulp contained high amounts of cellulose, and their use as feed substrate yielded little accumulation of larvae weight: 84 g and 34 g of dry biomass from 1 kg of substrate, respectively. Presumably, cellulose is a limiting factor as a nutritional medium for Hermetia illucens larvae, but bioconversion efficiency in the case of its high content may be increased by adding more nutritious substrates like corn kernels.

Keywords: bioconversion; biomass; Black soldier fly; cellulose; fly; Hermetia illucens L.; larvae; substrates

Date published: 2018-05-03