Effect of Feeding Rate on Growth Performance and Waste Reduction Efficiency of Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

Malaysia like many other developing countries is facing the challenge of poor waste management. This research was conducted to determine the effect of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae in decomposing food waste, palm oil waste, fish waste and yard waste. The development time and waste reduction efficiency of four different organic materials were evaluated. In this study, BSF larvae were fed with all four types of waste at five feeding rates of 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 and 2.00 g larva(-1) day(-1) with three replicates per feeding rate until the larvae reached the pre-pupae stage. During the study, larval development time, larval mortality, pre-pupae weight and waste reduction indexes (WRI) were determined. Food waste and yard waste achieved the highest WRI of 4.43 +/- 0.06 and 0.71 +/- 0.01, respectively at the feeding rate of 0.50 g larva(-1) day(-1) while palm oil waste and fish waste attained the highest WRI values at feeding rates of 1.00 g larva(-1) day(-1) (1.89 +/- 0.02) and 0.25 g larva(-1) day(-1) (3.75 +/- 0.24), respectively. The results showed that both variables significantly influenced the bioconversion process, but waste reduction efficiency was the most influential element.