Bioconversion of Pandanus tectorius using black soldier fly larvae for the production of edible oil and protein-rich biomass

Abstract

The valorisation of Pandanus tectorius fruits for the production of edible oil and protein-rich biomass using a bio-refinery approach was investigated. The characteristics of Pandanus fruits and the total content of β–carotene, oil, and lignocellulose composition were determined. Pandanus fruits contain approximately 97-99 wt%, d.b. mesocarp, 0.8-2 wt%, d.b. endosperm and 0.7-1 wt%, d.b. endocarp. The mesocarp of Pandanus fruit contains approximately 1.8- 6.2 µg/g s-carotene. The endosperm contains about 46-52 wt%, d.b. edible oil whereas the total lignocellulose content in the endosperm was approximately 63-67 wt%, d.b. Bioconversion of the exocarp of Pandanus fruits using the larva of Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly) for producing protein-rich biomass was also carried out. The effect of feeding rate on the efficiency of conversion of digested feed and productivity of prepupae was determined. At a feeding rate of 100 mg/larvae.d, the efficiency of conversion of digested feed was 27.4% with an estimated productivity of 4.7 gprepupae/m2container.d. The produced prepupae has a protein content of 37.7 wt%, d.b. which may find suitable application as animal feed.