Possibility to use fermented water hyacinth as a substrate supplement by black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens)

Osman, K. S. M.; Aly, M. Z. Y.; Omar, Eman M; Tawfik, A. I.

doi:10.21608/svuijas.2025.393583.1480

Possibility to use fermented water hyacinth as a substrate supplement by black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt

² Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

10.21608/svuijas.2025.393583.1480

Abstract

The black soldier fly is known as an efficient decomposer of various organic wastes and can be incorporated as a food additive into livestock and aquaculture diets. Water hyacinth (WH) is a rapidly spreading invasive plant that poses environmental challenges. Furthermore, WH has been utilized as a nutritional supplement for various animals and may be used as a dietary additive for BSFL. However, its efficacy is still being investigated. To date, no research has looked into the use of fermented WH and its impact on the BSF life cycle. This study aims to evaluate the possibility of using fermented water hyacinth as a rearing substrate for BSFL. The experiment was conducted using five rearing substrates: a control diet, a fermented water hyacinth diet, and three different ratios of mixtures between them. Our results revealed that biochemical components were analyzed statistically by Principal components analysis (PCA) to elucidate a possible correlation between the biochemical parameters of rearing substrate and the biochemical components of black soldier fly prepupae (BSFPP) and black soldier fly pupae (BSFP). Hence, it is needed to find out unconventional diet formulations for BSF rearing that do not compete with human energy sources and protein requirements while being eco-friendly and affordable economically.

Keywords