Technical Feasibility of Hermetia illucens in Integrated Waste Management, Renovated with Sewage Water, an Overview <s> Mineral Composition <s> ABSTRACT Soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, larvae have been introduced to the herpetoculture market as an alternative, palatable, high-calcium (Ca) foodstuff that minimizes or alleviates the need for additional gut-loading or dust supplements. Long-term successful breeding programs with insectivorous lizards and amphibians fed these larvae have been anecdotally reported; other observations suggest that whole larvae may pass intact and poorly digested through the gastrointestinal tract unless the cuticle is pierced. Feed intake and digestibility trials were conducted with 25 mountain chicken frogs, Leptodactylus fallax, housed in groups of five animals fed either crickets, or intact or mashed solider fly larvae to investigate nutrient availability. Diet significantly influenced the digestibility of dry matter, protein, fiber fractions, and all minerals (Ca, phosphorus [P], magnesium, sodium [Na], potassium [K], copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc) measured in these trials (P< 0.01 for all nutrients... <s> BIB001 </s> Technical Feasibility of Hermetia illucens in Integrated Waste Management, Renovated with Sewage Water, an Overview <s> Mineral Composition <s> A variety of insects are commonly fed to captive insectivores but detailed nutritional analyses are only available for the most commonly fed species. Soldier fly larvae, Turkestan cockroach nymphs, tebo worms, and adult house flies were analyzed for moisture, protein, fat, ash, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and selected carotenoids. The acid detergent fiber was analyzed for amino acids to estimate chitin content. Nutrient content varied widely between the four insect species. Ranges for the macronutrients were as follows: moisture (60.2–74.8%), crude protein (15.5–19.7%), crude fat (1.9%–29.4%), acid detergent fiber (1.4–3.0%), neutral detergent fiber (2.6–3.8%), and ash (0.8–3.5%). Energy content ranged from a low of 918 kcal/kg for house flies to 2,977 kcal/kg for tebo worms. The chitin content of these four species ranged from 6.7 to 21.0 mg/kg. The nutrients most likely to be deficient when these species of insects are used as food for insectivores are vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, vitamin E, thiamine, iodine, and vitamin B12. The number of nutrients deficient vs. the NRC requirements for rats on an energy basis by insect species was as follows: soldier fly larvae (3), tebo worms (15), Turkestan cockroach nymphs (5), and adult house flies (6). These data are valuable in helping assess the nutrient intake of captive insectivores and in developing gut-loading diets to improve the nutrient intake of captive insectivores. Zoo Biol. 32:27-36, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. <s> BIB002 </s> Technical Feasibility of Hermetia illucens in Integrated Waste Management, Renovated with Sewage Water, an Overview <s> Mineral Composition <s> BACKGROUND ::: Black soldier fly larvae are converters of organic waste into edible biomass, of which the composition may depend on the substrate. In this study, larvae were grown on four substrates: chicken feed, vegetable waste, biogas digestate, and restaurant waste. Samples of prepupae and substrates were freeze-dried and proximate, amino acid, fatty acid and mineral analyses were performed. ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Protein content of prepupae varied between 399 and 431 g kg−1 dry matter (DM) among treatments. Differences in amino acid profile of prepupae were small. On the other hand, the ether extract (EE) and ash contents differed substantially. Prepupae reared on digestate were low in EE and high in ash (218 and 197 g kg−1 DM, respectively) compared to those reared on vegetable waste (371 and 96 g kg−1 DM, respectively), chicken feed (336 and 100 g kg−1 DM, respectively) and restaurant waste (386 and 27 g kg−1 DM, respectively). Prepupal fatty acid profiles were characterised by high levels of C12:0 in all treatments. ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: Since protein content and quality were high and comparable for prepupae reared on different substrates, black soldier fly could be an interesting protein source for animal feeds. However, differences in EE and ash content as a function of substrate should be considered. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry <s> BIB003
Black soldier fly larvae possess comparatively greater mineral content than other macro-organisms used in waste management BIB001 . The customary minerals traced with higher concentration in BSF larvae are zinc, manganese, potassium, iron, copper, calcium and phosphorus and other trace elements are copper, sodium, sulphuretc with optimum calcium and phosphorus ratio proclaimed as 8.5 [81] BIB003 . Though sodium is a vital salt, the level of it found to be quite dimi-  . Contrarily, the calcium content for a freshly emerged adult is very scanty which ranges around 0.035% of total DM as most of the body calcium of larvae use to get utilized for exoskeleton formation during pupal conversion BIB002 .