Vet World   Vol.10   December-2017  Article-5

Use of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) to substitute soybean meal in ruminant diet: An in vitro rumen fermentation study

Background and Aim: This experiment aimed to evaluate substitution of soybean meal (SBM) by black soldier fly (BSF) larvae meal in a napier grass diet as performed by an in vitro rumen fermentation system.

Materials and Methods: Samples of napier grass, SBM, and BSF larvae age 1 week (BSF1) and 2 weeks (BSF2) were arranged according to the following dietary treatments (dry matter [DM] basis): T1, 100% napier grass; T2, 60% napier grass + 40% SBM; T3, 60% napier grass + 40% BSF1; T4, 60% napier grass + 40% BSF2; T5, 60% napier grass + 20% SBM + 20% BSF1; and T6, 60% napier grass + 20% SBM + 20% BSF2. The samples were determined for their chemical composition and were incubated in vitro using buffered rumen fluid for 48 h at 39°C. In vitro incubation was carried out in three runs and represented by two incubation bottles per run.

Results: Supplementation of BSF, both BSF1 and BSF2, increased ether extract, neutral- and acid-detergent insoluble crude protein contents of T3-T6 diets. The T3 or T4 diet resulted in lower ruminal ammonia concentration, in vitro DM digestibility, and in vitro organic matter (OM) digestibility as compared to those in T2 (p<0.05). Diet supplemented with BSF produced lower methane emission in comparison to that of supplemented with SBM (p<0.05). Diet containing BSF2 produced lower methane and methane per digestible OM than that containing BSF1 (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Substitution of SBM by BSF in ruminant diet results in a lower nutritional value in vitro but with an advantage of lowering ruminal methane emission. Keywords: black soldier fly, chitin, insect, methanogenesis, rumen.

Keywords: black soldier fly, chitin, insect, methanogenesis, rumen.

How to cite this article: Jayanegara A, Novandri B, Yantina N, Ridla M (2017) Use of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) to substitute soybean meal in ruminant diet: An in vitro rumen fermentation study, Veterinary World, 10(12): 1439-1446.

Received: 07-07-2017  Accepted: 09-11-2017     Published online: 10-12-2017

Corresponding author: Anuraga Jayanegara   E-mail: anuraga.jayanegara@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.1439-1446

Copyright: Jayanegara, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.