Black Solder Fly

• Objective – To check the growth rate of BSF on Azolla.

• Introduction – 

            The Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens, is of the dipteran family Stratiomyidae. The larvae and adults are considered neither pests nor vectors. Instead, black soldier fly larvae play a similar role to that of redworm as essential decomposers in breaking down organic substrates and returning nutrients to the soil. The larvae have voracious appetites and can be used for composting household food scrap and agriculture waste products.

Additionally, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are an alternative source of protein for aquaculture, animal feed, pet food and human nutrition. 

• Life cycle – 

            An adult female lays between 206 and 639 eggs at a time. These eggs are typically deposited in crevices or on surfaces above or adjacent to decaying matter such as manure or compost and hatch in about 4 days. Freshly emerged larvae are 1.0 millimetre (0.04 in), being able to reach a length of 25 millimetres (1 in) and weight of 0.10 to 0.22 grams (1.5 to 3.4 gr) by the end of larval stage. The larvae are able to feed on a wide variety of organic matter, adapting to diets with different nutrient content. The larval stage lasts from 18 to 36 days, depending on the food substrates provided to the larvae, of which the post feeding (prepupal) stage lasts around 7 days. The length of larval stage can be delayed by months due to low temperature or lack of food. The pupal stage lasts from 1 to 2 weeks. Adults can live typically 47 to 73 days when provided with water and food, such as sugar in captivity or nectar in the wild, or survive for about 8 to 10 days on fat reserves gathered during larval stage when water is provided. 

• Material required – 

                  1.Tray

                  2.larva 

                  3.azolla

                  4.chiken feed

                  5.fish feed

                  6. Rice

• Seeds – Eggs of BSF – 6 gm

• Setup – 

1. Hatching of eggs –

1. One tray was taken. In that tray 2 lit water and 600 gm of feed was taken for hatching of eggs. After that 6 gm of eggs were added on top of the tray using a sieve. After 5 days (5 DOL) the larva was taken for the experiment. 
2. We observed that 6 gm of eggs became 492 gm of (5DOL) average 96186 number of larvae.
3. For counting the average number of larvae we took 3 samples of 2 gm of larva and counted them in a plate manually.

Sample no.	1	2	3
Total count of larva	408	404	361

= 408 + 404+361/ 3

= 1173/3

So, the average per 2 gm = 391 no. of larvae

2. Experiment setup – 
3. For the experiment we took 12 trays of the same dimension. 12 trays were divided into 4 sections.  

Sr.no	Tray	content
1	C1C2C3	100% CHICKEN FEED100% CHICKEN FEED100% CHICKEN FEED
2	R1R2R3	100% RICE100% RICE100% RICE
3	RA1RA2RA3	50% RICE+50%AZOLLA50% RICE+50%AZOLLA50% RICE+50%AZOLLA
4	A1A2A3	100% AZOLLA100% AZOLLA100% AZOLLA

1. Setup for feeding – 

For 1st day feeding  (date – 24/06/2022)

Substrate	Dry weight	Water weight	Total weight
100% chicken feed	1066 gm	2000 gm	3066 gm
100% Rice	886 gm	1770 gm	2566gm
50% Rice and 50% Azolla	443 + 666 gm	883 gm	1992 gm
100% azolla	–	–	960

Setup date	Weight of BSF	tray	Weight (gm)
24/06/2022	41 gm41gm41gm	C1	1066 CF + 2000 Water
C2	1066 CF + 2000 Water
C3	1066 CF + 2000 Water
24/06/2022	41gm	R1	886 Rice + 1770 Water
41gm	R2	886 Rice + 1770 Water
41gm	R3	886 Rice + 1770 Water
24/06/2022	41gm	RA1	443 Rice + 666 Azolla + 1050 Water
41gm	RA2	443 Rice + 666 Azolla + 1050 Water
41gm	RA3	443 Rice + 666 Azolla + 1050 Water
24/06/2022	41gm	A1	970 Azolla
41gm	A2	970 Azolla
41gm	A3	970 Azolla

Sr.no	Tray	content
1	C1C2C3	100% CHICKEN FEED100% CHICKEN FEED100% CHICKEN FEED
2	R1R2R3	100% RICE100% RICE100% RICE
3	RA1RA2RA3	50% RICE+50%AZOLLA50% RICE+50%AZOLLA50% RICE+50%AZOLLA
4	A1A2A3	100% AZOLLA100% AZOLLA100% AZOLLA

3. Setup for feeding – 

For 1st day feeding  (date – 24/06/2022)

Substrate	Dry weight	Water weight	Total weight
100% chicken feed	1066 gm	2000 gm	3066 gm
100% Rice	886 gm	1770 gm	2566gm
50% Rice and 50% Azolla	443 + 666 gm	883 gm	1992 gm
100% azolla	–	–	960

Setup date	Weight of BSF	tray	Weight (gm)
24/06/2022	41 gm41gm41gm	C1	1066 CF + 2000 Water
C2	1066 CF + 2000 Water
C3	1066 CF + 2000 Water
24/06/2022	41gm	R1	886 Rice + 1770 Water
41gm	R2	886 Rice + 1770 Water
41gm	R3	886 Rice + 1770 Water
24/06/2022	41gm	RA1	443 Rice + 666 Azolla + 1050 Water
41gm	RA2	443 Rice + 666 Azolla + 1050 Water
41gm	RA3	443 Rice + 666 Azolla + 1050 Water
24/06/2022	41gm	A1	970 Azolla
41gm	A2	970 Azolla
41gm	A3	970 Azolla

For 7th  day feeding 

Setup date	Weight of BSF	tray	Weight (gm)
01/07/2022	41 gm41gm41gm	C1	1066 CF + 2000 Water
C2	1066 CF + 2000 Water
C3	1066 CF + 2000 Water
01/07/2022	41gm	R1	886 Rice + 1770 Water
41gm	R2	886 Rice + 1770 Water
41gm	R3	886 Rice + 1770 Water
01/07/2022	41gm	RA1	443 Rice + 750 Azolla + 1050 Water
41gm	RA2	443 Rice + 750 Azolla + 1050 Water
41gm	RA3	443 Rice + 750Azolla + 1050 Water
01/07/2022	41gm	A1	1500 Azolla
41gm	A2	1500 Azolla
41gm	A3	1500 Azolla

9/07/2022 (50% rice + azolla)

	Tray1	Tray 2	Tray 3
Coco Peat(gm)	350	350	450
Compost remaining(gm)	900	845	760
No. larva	4228	6860	8925
Wt. of larva(gm)	590	700	700
Avg. Wt.	0.114 gm
Water in compost	60%	60%	56%

9/07/2022

new setup

Total 2kg larva harvested from 50% azolla and 50% rice as a feed after 14 days.

Total 1200 gm feed was put in two separate trays, with double the water of its chicken feed and each tray contained 1kg larva.

25/07/2022

Two kg larva kept for 10-15 days for prepupa stage

In prepupa stage all larva get converted after 15 days , from all we collected total 17 gm eggs BSF larva.

This eggs used for future cycles.

3/08/2022

Conclusion – From this set up we got maximum larva in 50% azolla And 50% rice