Introduction:-

The Black soldier Flies are sleek looking that many confuse with a Wasp. However like most flies, the Black Soldier Flies only have two wings (Wasp has four)and does not possess a stinger. Although the loud buzzing they create when flying is enough to concern many people, adult soldier flies pose no danger. The Black Soldier Fly is often associated with the outdoor and livestock, usually around decaying organic matter such as animal waste and plant material. Since Black Soldier fly larvae consuming decaying matter, they have been used to reduce animal manure in commercial swine and poultry facilities. Although they are not known as a disease vector, adult soldier flies are a potential mechanical vector of various pathogens. A more likely negative interaction would be accidental ingestion of Black Soldier Fly larvae by animal or human. The adult larvae are Black and Blue in color and some have metallic appearance. The adult soldiers are ranges from 15 to 20 mm in length. The female BSF deposits a mass of about 500 eggs in crack and crevices near or in decaying matter such as dung, garbage and other organic waste. The eggs hatch into larvae in about 4-5 days. Each oval shaped egg is about 1 mm in length and pale Yellow in color. The larvae can reach 27 mm in length and 6 mm in width in 14 days. They are whitish color with small projection mouth part. The larvae pass through six instars and require approximately 14 days completing development. During development BSF larvae are insatiable feeders. As adults they do not need to feed and reply on the fats stored from the larval stage. Before pupation, the sixth instar larvae disperse from the feeding site to dry sheltered areas to initiate pupation. The exoskeleton (skin) darkens and a pupa develops within 15-20 days. Pupation requires about two weeks. . Also for growing and multiplication of Black Soldier Flies the system required necessary environment, in which temperature required about 30°c-35°c, humidity is about 70% and darkness required at the stage larvae undergoes the pupation period.

Life cycle:-

Objectives:-

  • To maintain the temperature and humidity conditions in a closed environment.
  • To maintain the life cycle of BSF throughout the year.

In July literature reading of Black soldier fly.DId some phychometric calculation for maintaining temperature and humidity.

After that we collected worms and setup in usage for further life cycle.

Put the worms in stand based trays with food.

Worms collection from composter
Collect worms from feeding trays

Humidity calculation:-

Humidity:-

  • Humidity is the concentration of water vapour present in air.
  • If humidity is low water holding capacity is high.

Dry bulb temperature (DBT):-

  • If DBT increase the capacity of moisture and the airspace will also increase.

Wet bulb temperature (WBT):-

  • Wet bulb temperature is measure of the cooling efficiency.
  • At 100% relative humidity the WBT equals DBT.

Relative humidity (RH) :-

  • It determined by comparing the WBT & DBT.

Dewpoint:-

  • Dewpoint temperature is close to the Air temperature when RH is high.
  • And if Dewpoint is well below the air temperature RH is low.

In august we made 2 separate setup for cocoons and flies in dome.

Dome calculation:-

Prototype setup:-

Required material

  • Table for stand
  • Mosquito net
  • Green net
  • Black sheet
  • Plastic trays
  • Lamp
  • Cooler
Prototype setup
2 separate blocks for cocoons and flies
For flies
For cocoons
Egg trays and water tray for flies

Maintain humidity and temperature sector:-

After all this we put cooler for maintaining humidity and temperature.

we take calculation with fan pad of cooler with 2″ pads and we did this calculation in two domes and we got efficiency like,

Dome 1:- 46% and

Dome 2:- 33%.

After that we get trial with 4″ pad and we got efficiency like,

Dome 1:- 83%

Dome 2:- 81%

There are some reading of humidity and temperature taken by me before running cooler and after running cooler,

Before running cooler at 2:20 pm

HumidityTemperature
Out of Dome45.8%28.2
In Dome50.2%27.4

After running cooler for 1 hour at 3:20 pm

HumidityTemperature
Out of Dome30%36.6
In Dome54.7%`27.7

Then we increase the time duration of reading to 1:30 hours and data be like at 10:10 am

HumidityTemperature
Out of Dome59.8%25.5
In Dome64.2%25.5

After running cooler for 1:30 hours at 11:40 am

HumidityTemperature
Out of Dome60.9%26.6
In Dome76.5%23.2