The Effects of Diet Formulation on the Growth and Protein Content of the Black Soldier Fly Larvae

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to compare the diet formulation for rearing the black soldier fly larvae based on the growth and protein content. Five diet formulas were used to rear the BSF larvae as follows: diet 1 (pork-based diet+ mixed with the basal diet formula adapted from Lastari et al.), diet 2 (chicken-based diet+ mixed with the basal diet), diet 3 (fish-based diet+ mixed with the basal diet), diet 4(pork + chicken + fish + mixed with the basal diet) and diet 5 (basal diet as a control diet). The prepupae of BSF in each diet formula were measured growth and analyzed protein content, amino acidcontent, and food safety standards. The resultshaveshownthat the prepupae of BSF as rearing in diet formula 4 had the maximum average width, length and weight of 5.44+1.26 mm, 17.08+1.32 mm and 0.34+1.12 g, respectively. Moreover, protein content in the powder of BSF prepupae was the highest at 48.24% when compared with others, while the diet formula 5 as a control was 44.38%. Fifteen types of amino acids were found, with the highest amino acid content being Glutamic acid, Aspartic acid and Alanine, with values of 4.68, 3.57 and 3.47 mg/ 100mg, respectively. In terms of food safety standards (chemical residues, microorganisms and heavy metal residues), they were lower than the standard values.