Black Soldier Fly Larvae: An Economical and Nutritious Alternative to Cereal-Based Poultry Feed
Dr. B. Divya Sri1, Dr. L. V. Supriya2
1Assistant Professor,
Department of Veterinary Physiology & Biochemistry,
School of Veterinary & Animal Sciences,
Centurion University of Technology & Management,
Paralakhemundi.
2Veterinary Assistant surgeon,
Veterinary Dispensary,
Tadikalapudi.
India is one of the world’s top five countries producing chicken and egg. The quality, quantity, and feed cost determine the sector’s sustainability and the business’s economic viability for small poultry farmers. According to estimates, feeds account for up to 70 percent of the total cost of poultry production. Moreover, conventional feed supplied to poultry, mainly cereals and soy, competes with the food demands of the growing human population. Therefore, the availability of feed resources is a significant determinant for the sustainability of the poultry sector, along with rising costs. These concerns have drawn the attention of researchers towards exploring low-cost alternatives to conventional poultry feed in recent years. Some recent research has focused on using insects as an alternative to traditional poultry feed. For example, larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illuscens) have high nutritional value and are easy to raise.
Larvae feed on various organic matter, from rejected food waste to dung. Insects also have high waste-biomass conversion potential. This means that insects are efficient converters of food into body mass, unlike warm-blooded mammals and birds, which use much energy to keep themselves warm. Black soldier fly larvae are low-cost, low-footprint, and environmentally friendly. With a short life span of 45 days, maximum feed intake occurs during the larval stage, which lasts for two weeks. In other words, it is the time required for proper waste conversion. These advantages have motivated the development of a simple and inexpensive larva trapping mechanism that can produce fresh fly larvae in the field.
Since feed-conversion efficiency is a reliable indicator of how efficiently feed is converted into chicken, an experiment was conducted on two pairs of one-week-old healthy chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) to assess the nutritional value of the feed.
The initial weight of each chicken varied between 34 to 39 grams. The experimental group was fed 10 grams of larval food per chick for the first two days, which increased to 200 grams over one month. The control group was supplied with the same wheat bran-based hybrid diet. The average body growth observed in the experimental group’s initial, intermediate, and final stages was estimated to be 39 percent, 87.6 percent, and 55.91 percent, respectively, against the later stages.
The values for the control group were 22, 51, and 87 percent, respectively. The cumulative weights of chicks at the end of the experimental period were determined to be 145 grams and 142 grams for the experimental group and 128 grams and 121 grams for the control group. Therefore, black soldier fly larvae can be a high-quality substitute for conventional soy and corn-based feeds. The protein and fat values considered the two most important parameters are 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively, by following the abovementioned diet. In short, black soldier fly larvae will feed less shortly. -Cost, low footprint, eco-friendly, and a natural feed companion for poultry farmers.
