Development of Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on Poultry Litter-Based Diets: Effect on Chemical Composition of Larvae

Abstract

In order to investigate a low-cost and sustainable food source, the present study evaluated the use of poultry litter for rearing Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). The experiment was performed with five diets containing increasing levels of poultry litter (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%) replacing the control diet and five replicates with 50 larvae per sample unit. Larval growth and development were evaluated and the chemical compositions of diet and T. molitor larvae were determined. Larval development and reproduction efficiency of T. molitor were similar in all treatments. The sole use of poultry litter to feed T. molitor reduced the crude protein of flour by only 8%. Including 50% or more poultry litter in the standard diet is the best-suited formulation for larvae production and incorporation of minerals in the larvae. Mealworm can be grown successfully on diets composed by poultry litter, the diet did not affect survival, growth, and development; however, studies spanning several insect generations should be performed to determine the effects of diet composition on adult fecundity. The knowledge acquired using poultry litter to feed T. molitor will be useful to carry out new research, in addition to evidencing the possibility of low-cost mass rearing of these larvae.

Towards Functional Insect Feeds: Agri-Food By-Products Enriched with Post-Distillation Residues of Medicinal Aromatic Plants in Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Breeding

“…Tenebrio molitor larvae (TML) are typically fed with a substrate of wheat bran supplemented with vegetables, fruits and/or protein sources [ 22 ]. However, recent studies have indicated that T. molitor can be fed with organic wastes converting them into valuable biomass of high nutritional value [ 23 ], thus suggesting that several wastes from production, processing and consumption of agricultural products could potentially be used as alternative feed sources during insect farming [ 24 ].…”

Impact of Diets Including Agro-Industrial By-Products on the Fatty Acid and Sterol Profiles of Larvae Biomass from Ephestia kuehniella, Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens

“…Insects are a promising source of lipids, where the fatty acid composition is closely related to diet composition, rearing conditions and the developmental stage [8,[16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Growth Performance of Hermetia illucens and Tenebrio molitor in Different Organic Waste Biconversion Process

“…This indicates that the amount of chicken manure given greatly affects the body weight of the larvae. The more chicken manure given, the greater the change in the body weight of the larvae (Silva et al, 2021). The largest change in the body weight of larvae is found in the amount of chicken manure media giving as much as 25 g day -1 , which is 0.049 g.…”