Diversity of Black Soldier Fly-Based Products Continues: Rabbit Feed, Bio-lubricants, and Bio-diesel

I was reviewing recent citations on the BSF and came across two unique articles examining uses of BSF-related materials beyond what has been traditionally discussed in the literature.

My first response was- "I cannot make this stuff up!" (pretty exciting)....

My second thought was.. "Well, I know what my topic of discussion will be this week." (very fortunate- the blog sorta writes itself... maybe Google is the puppet master organizing the blog for me)... with that said- I would think Google would love the BSF concept as related to waste management, sustainability, and protein production (anyone have some connections with Google they are willing to share with me? I will gladly reach out to them! :)

And my third thought was, "These papers are refreshing as they present novel uses of BSF."

Now that you know what I was thinking when I read the papers- here we go!

The first paper, out of my friend and colleague's lab in Italy, examined the use of BSF and mealworm fat as a replacement for soybean oil in rabbit feed. They had multiple diets comprised of different amounts of insect oil in the diet (in place of the soy oil)- the good news-  criteria measured were not significantly different from the control.  Has anyone considered developing the rabbit feed market? Seems like a smaller market that might be attainable with regards to supply/demand. 

Gasco, L., S. Dabbou, A. Trocino, G. Xiccato, M. T. Capucchio, I. Biasato, D. Dezzutto, M. Birolo, M. Meneguz, A. Schiavone, and F. Gai. 2019. Effect of dietary supplementation with insect fats on growth performance, digestive efficiency and health of rabbits. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology 10: 4.

The second study determined the oil extracted from BSF could be a potential use as a bio-lubricant or bio-diesel. Of course, the bioenergy topic has been covered in a few papers over the course of the past five years or so- but the idea of bio-lubricants... fairly original. On the surface, this focus might not seem that exciting. But, I think you should consider the research topics reviewed here and other places online. The topics typically fall into a few areas- which translates into a limited number of products being produced from BSF.  So, I like the idea that researchers are diversifying the applications of BSF as diversity leads to stability and opportunity for researchers and industry alike. 

A Protein-Based Material from a New Approach Using Whole Defatted Larvae, and Its Interaction with Moisture

I hope you enjoy the articles... and that you have a great weekend!!

Author

Jeffery K. Tomberlin, Director, Glad Spring has arrived in Texas, USA!!!
Director, EVO Conversion Systems, LLC
​Twitter: @FliesFacility