The Efficiency of Black Soldier Fly Larvae with Vegetable, Fruit and Food Waste as Biological Tool for Sustainable Management of Organic Waste
T. Karthikeyani
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
K. Sivasubramanian *
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
M. Maheswari
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
N. Chitra
Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
S. Saravanan
ICAR - Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, India.
P. Jothimani
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
S. Karthika
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study investigated the sustainable management of wet organic waste using Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) for an innovative biological approach to waste management. The organic wet wastes such as fruit, vegetable, and food wastes were processed and fed to BSFL larvae from day 5 and the bioconversion process was carried out at Black Soldier Fly Unit, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University for 21 days. Among the three wastes, the highest bioconversion efficiency was recorded in fruit waste with 67% Substrate Reduction, 10.8% Efficiency of Conversion of Digested feed, 5.7% Bio Conversion Rate, and 4.18 Waste Reduction Index after 21 days. Whereas vegetable and food waste achieved similar bioconversion efficiency. The results suggest that BSFL-based bioconversion can be an effective and eco-friendly waste management and resource recovery technique to significantly lower the volumes of organic wet waste while converting it into high-value biomass and leading to a circular economy model.
Keywords: Black soldier fly, bioconversion efficiency, organic wet waste management, waste reduction indices, waste to biomass conversion