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SPECIAL FEATURE

MEET THE EXTRAORDINARY FLY:

HERMETIA ILLUCENS

BLACK SOLDIER

FLY

This article might change what you

think about flies.

In the early days, the farming industries The focus now is to move towards using
heavily relied on commercial feed renewable sources along with low carbon
ingredients, including fishmeal and fish oil, footprint. Insect meal as feed has been widely
which are outsourced from the wild-caught advocated as a suitable ingredient for these
fish. Anchovies and herrings are their major purposes.
target species. As the problem arises from
the unsustainable management of fishmeal, The black soldier fly (BSF) or scientifically
the industry shifted its choice to plant known as Hermetia illucens is one of the
sources, particularly soy and corn, to keep insect species from fly families widely
pace with the market demand. These crops recognised as a promising ingredient in
require substantial land areas and a large animal feed. Favourable reports have come
amount of water for animal feed when they out of this insect when tested as feed for
can be directly used for human various animals from fish, poultry, rabbit and

consumption. pig. The BSF holds unique properties, which
make them a great candidate for animal feed.
Both soy and corn have been known to Their life span is short. Under optimum
contain high nutritious contents for the conditions, BSF can grow from egg to adult in
animals. However, the presence of anti- just 45 days. To get the pre-pupae stage
nutritional factor in these crops limits their harvested for animal consumption, it would
function if overused. It may cause digestive require them to eat any organic substance for
problems to certain animal species, around 15 to 18 days. While other infamous
especially to carnivorous aquatic fish feed. flies such as house fly and blow fly are
That has prompted experts in the animal considered as nuisance pests, this fly is not
nutrition field to embrace alternative feed known for disease vectors due to its unique
sources to replace these traditional nature. As the pupae emerge into the adult
ingredients. stage, they will not eat but only use their
conserved energy to mate without
disseminating harmful diseases.
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