In recent years, interest in the larvae of black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens) as a sustainable protein resource for livestock feed has increased considerably. However, knowledge on the nutritional and physiological aspects of this insect, especially compared to other conventional farmed animals is scarce. This review presents a critical comparison of data on the growth potential and efficiency of the BSF larvae (BSFL) compared to conventional monogastric livestock species. Advantages of BSFL over other monogastric livestock species includes their high growth rate and their ability to convert low-grade organic waste into high-quality protein and fat-rich biomass suitable for use in animal feed. Calculations using literature data suggest that BSFL are more efficient than broilers, pigs and fish in terms of conversion of substrate protein into body mass, but less efficient than broilers and fish in utilization of substrate gross energy to gain body mass. BSFL growth efficiency varies greatly depending on the nutrient quality of their dietary substrates. This might be associated with the function of their gastrointestinal tract, including the activity of digestive enzymes, the substrate particle characteristics, and their intestinal microbial community. The conceived advantage of BSFL having an environmental footprint better than conventional livestock is only true if BSFL is produced on low-grade organic waste and its protein would directly be used for human consumption. Therefore, their potential role as a new species to better close nutrient cycles in agro-ecological systems needs to be reconsidered, and we conclude that BSFL is a complementary livestock species efficiently utilizing organic waste that cannot be utilized by other livestock. In addition, we provide comparative insight into morpho-functional aspects of the gut, characterization of digestive enzymes, gut microbiota and fiber digestion. Finally, current knowledge on the nutritional utilization and requirements of BSFL in terms of macro- and micro-nutrients is reviewed and found to be rather limited. In addition, the research methods to determine nutritional requirements of conventional livestock are not applicable for BSFL. Thus, there is a great need for research on the nutrient requirements of BSFL.

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A feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of feeding defrosted whole black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to broilers in increasing levels in the ration on blood metabolites, carcass characteristics (CC) and on changes in fatty acid (FA) composition in plasma, muscle and abdominal fat. Day-old chicks (Ross-308; n=252) were assigned to one of four groups each with 6 replicate pens (10-11 birds/pen). The birds were fed either a demand-oriented age-specific control (CON) diet and had no access to BSFL, or fed CON plus BSFL at 10% (L10), 20% (L20) or 30% (L30) of CON feed intake. At weeks (wk) 4 and 6, birds (2 per pen) were slaughtered to collect blood, breast muscle, and abdominal fat samples and to determine CC. Plasma triglyceride concentrations increased in a dose dependent manner with increasing levels of whole BSFL compared with CON (P<0.05). The L30 and L20 had higher plasma non-esterified FA concentrations than CON (P<0.05). There were no differences in slaughter weight and CC between groups (P>0.05). Broilers fed 30% BSFL had the highest saturated FA proportion in plasma, muscle and abdominal fat and the lowest monounsaturated FA proportion in abdominal fat tissue (P<0.05). The levels of total polyunsaturated FA in plasma and abdominal fat were lower in L30 than in CON (P<0.05). In plasma, muscle and abdominal fat, the proportion of conjugated linoleic acid (isomer C18:2cis-9, trans-11) was highest in L30 followed by L20 and L10 compared with CON (P<0.05). Overall, whole BSFL could be included in broiler diets up to 20% to promote sustainability in broiler farming without adverse effects on slaughter weight, meat quality and FA compositions, whereas, the highest inclusion level (i.e. 30%) of whole BSFL in the daily ration was associated with altered FA composition in plasma, fat and meat.

Mineral and heavy metal accumulation in black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) is of growing interest. The bioaccumulation of elements in BSFL is usually assessed by a bioaccumulation factor (BAF), which is the ratio between the concentration of an element in the organism and in its feeding substrate. Recently, a new index, i.e. bioaccumulation index (BAI), which represents the relative increase in the concentration of a given element to its initial concentration has been proposed. The BAI is claimed to be a more valid alternative to the BAF, especially because it takes into account the initial element concentration of the larvae. This work assesses BAF and BAI in comparison with true element retention rate in BSFL. Using an experimental setup that included the element turnover of BSFL in two different feeding regimes (with and without a different substrate for neonatal larvae), we show that: (1) the initial element concentration in BSFL is only a tiny fraction (<0.1%) of the total element pool in the system, implying that the feeding substrate is the main source of elements to be accumulated by the growing larvae; (2) each element has a specific concentration pattern from the start to the end of feeding experiments. Furthermore, in cases where both neonatal diets and experimental feeding substrates are used during the larval growth period, BAI can be confounded by time/age with diet-related effects. From an agri-food perspective of rearing BSFL for element accumulation, the retention rate of elements from the feeding substrate to the larval body remains the most valid evaluation parameter. The results of input-output calculations and element-unspecific correlations suggest a higher agreement of true element retention rate with BAF than with BAI. Therefore, we propose to assess the element accumulation in BSFL by retention rate followed by BAF under laboratory conditions.

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