Comparison of Hermetia illucens larvae and pre-pupae as potential aqua feed derived from the biotransformation of organic waste

Agro waste (e.g: fruit waste) disposal practices depend on composting or finding farmers with domestic husbandry capable of consuming the agro wastes. Composting of these wastes requires long and slow decomposition periods before it can turn into compost. However, biotransformation process is a sustainable option for transforming agro wastes into valuable product via insect biomass. Biotransformation provides several benefits including the simplicity in technology, environmental friendliness and it requires lesser time to transform waste into valuable product. The focus of this work is to assess the feasibility of Hermetia illucens larvae biomass as aqua feed via biotransformation of fruit waste. The initial stage of this study, analyses the biochemical properties of the larvae’s lipid fed with fruit waste. Analysis of the crude lipid profile such as type of lipids, acid value, iodine content, free fatty acid content and peroxide value were carried out in accordance with AOAC standard methods. The yield of crude lipid of pre-pupae obtained was 46.83±1.37%. However, the crude lipid yielding from the larvae was 47.39±1.85%. The acid value, iodine value and peroxide value obtained were 2.59±0.58 mg KOH/g, 23.76±0.34 and 1.11±0.21 meq/kg for pre-pupae and 2.01±0.19 mg KOH/g, 16.94±4.37 and 1.14±0.24 meq/kg respectively. The crude protein content with chitin correction was 39.77±0.13% for larvae and 43.84±0.16% for pre-pupae.