Use of distillery by-products asTenebrio molitor mealworm feed supplement

Abstract

Agricultural and industrial waste represent valuable starting materials to create novel products with economic value added. Winery industry represents an important economic sector in Italy, which produces tons of by-products every year. Global warming and the increasing demand for food and feed led us to analyse the nutraceutical properties of distillery by-products as possible supplements to feed Tenebrio molitor larvae (TML). Grape pomace (GP) and grape marcs (GM), grape skin pulp, grape seeds and winery waste sludge were analysed for their antioxidant activity and fatty acid (FA) profile. Even if subjected to multiple processing, by-products had an important content of antioxidant compounds, in particular polyphenols, flavonols, flavonoids and condensed tannins. Moreover, the high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids and the low percentage of saturated fatty acids found make them useful feed supplements. Herein has been disclosed that their use as TML feed material was well tolerated over TML development, with a significant mean weight gain respect to control of about 25% and no effect on survival rate. Interestingly, total antioxidant activity and FA profile ameliorate significantly, suggesting that distillery by-products can be used to extend the shelf-life of TML and ameliorate their nutraceutical properties, with possible application in controlled dietary regimens. This work confirmed that by-products largely produced in Europe can be used as TML feed materials, simplifying waste management and reducing rearing costs.

Bridging the Gap: Scaling Up the Sustainable Production of the Yellow Mealworm with Agricultural By-Products—Insights into Larval Growth and Body Composition

“…The upcycling of low economic value side-streams and by-products of the agri-food sector through insect bioconversion can substantially enhance the sustainable profile of the insect sector, whereas it can further contribute to the reduction in the insect production costs, improving the economic feasibility of commercial insect production. In this regard, a considerable amount of recent research works has been dedicated to the valorization of agricultural by-products as insect feedstocks [16][17][18]20,21,27,44]. Although of high significance, most of these studies present results generated at lab scale, which may not be directly applicable to industrial scale production systems.…”

“…Fruits and vegetables have also been utilized in T. molitor diets aiming to enhance insects' growth performance and nutritional value [18,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. Various agri-food wastes, such as olive pomace, grape pomace, grape marcs, winery waste sludge, cucumber wastes, and tomato wastes, along with FFPs like orange peel waste and carrot pomace, have been evaluated as potential feed sources for the yellow mealworm larvae.…”

Tenebrio molitor as a Simple and Cheap Preclinical Pharmacokinetic and Toxicity Model

“…TMC used for the experiments were obtained from the mass rearing established at CREA-DC (Florence, Italy), fed on a base diet composed of brewer's yeast (0.5%) (Laboratorio Dottori Piccioni S.r.l., MI, Italy), wheat flour (49.75%) (Molino F.lli Chiavazza, Casalgrasso, CN, Italy) and oats (49.75%) (Michelotti e Zei, Larciano PT, Italy) [17]. Pupae and adult TMC were maintained in semi-dark conditions in a climate room at 27 ± 1 • C and RH (relative humidity) 40-50% [19,20]. Adults that developed from pupae were separated and used for analysis within 3 days.…”

“…Tenebrio molitor larvae (TML) are Coleoptera recently approved for human consumption. Their importance as functional food has been reported in different studies due a composition rich in ACE inhibitory peptides [17,18] and to the possibility of naturally fortifying them using agro-industrial by-products [19,20]. Unlike other insects such as G. mellonella or fruit flies, they can be reared in very simple conditions, using different diets and limited spaces, by untrained personnel.…”

Growth Performance, Diet Digestibility, and Chemical Composition of Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor L.) Fed Agricultural By-Products

“…Against this background, there have been recent attempts to valorize various byproducts of food or agricultural industry as substrates for maintaining the rearing of insects such as YML [15][16][17][18]. The mealworm is an omnivorous insect species [19,20] and has the ability to break down cellulose [20], a key component of fibrous wastes.…”