Role of pupation substrate on post-feeding development of black soldier fly larvae, Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

Abstract

Recycling organic wastes using black soldier fly based technology into valuable products has recently attracted special attention worldwide. However, black soldier flies only convert waste during their feeding stage. Therefore, it is important to optimize the non-feeding stages, especially the pupal stage, in order to improve the entire life cycle of the insect. This study aims to assess the influence of pupation substrates on the post-feeding development of the black soldier fly. Four-days-old larvae were reared from a cohort of eggs laid the same day using commercial chicken feed until they stopped feeding, and 1600 post-feeding larvae were collected and transferred to four different substrates consisting of wood shavings, fine sand, wheat bran and nothing for pupation and emergence. Each treatment consisted of four replicates of 100 post-feeding larvae. They were daily monitored to record the appearance of the pupae and adult emergences. Regardless of the type of treatment, pupation started four days after the introduction of post-feeding larvae in the pupation substrate. The pupation and emergence times of those subjected to wood shavings were relatively short (7.25±0.50 days), compared to others. The pupation/emergence rate was significantly low in the absence of pupation substrate (p