Special Issue "Waste Valorization via Hermetia illucens: Potential Applications of Insect Biomass"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alessia Giannetto
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: insect meal; food waste bioconversion by insects; alternative nutritional sources; fish nutrition; fish welfare; aquaculture; environmental toxicology; oxidative stress; cell and molecular biology
Dr. Basilio Randazzo
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Interests: fish nutrition; alternative aquafeed ingredients; aquaculture; histology and immunohistochemistry; molecular biology; insects

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last five years (2016–2020), the volume of scientific articles focusing on the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) Hermetia illucens has grown almost exponentially, reaching more than 700 papers published on different international peer reviewed journals (data updated to February 2021, Scopus). The increasing interest of the scientific community has arisen from the particularly fascinating key role of the BSF in waste valorization during the larval bioconversion of organic wastes into valuable alternative sources of nutrients, mainly fats and proteins.

Recently, the circular economy concept has gained great attention within the European Community and the Directive 2008/98/EC is having a key role in food waste management particularly because the estimated increase in the world population will cause a significant rise in waste and by-products production.

As such, the biotechnological process of the BSF represents a sustainable and economically interesting joint solution for both waste management and the production of sustainable protein- and fat-rich biomass for several productive sectors including animal feed formulations.

The urgent need to meet the growing global demand for nutrients requires scientific research to clarify the enormous potentialities of bioconversion by BSF through a multidisciplinary approach involving expertise in waste treatment, microbial safety, animal nutrition, biodiesel and bioactive compounds production, as well as regulations thus implementing this innovative solution within a context of circular economy. Original research papers and review articles reporting on all these aspects are welcome.

Dr. Alessia Giannetto
Dr. Basilio Randazzo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Hermetia illucens
  • bioconversion
  • waste valorization
  • feed
  • aquaculture
  • BSF meals

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae and Prepupae Defatted Meals in Diets for Zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Animals 2021, 11(3), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030720 - 06 Mar 2021
Viewed by 938
Abstract
The black soldier fly (BSF) Hermetia illucens is receiving increasing attention as a sustainable fishmeal alternative protein source for aquaculture. To date, no studies have explored the effects of fishmeal replacement with BSF V instar larvae or prepupae meals due to their peculiar [...] Read more.
The black soldier fly (BSF) Hermetia illucens is receiving increasing attention as a sustainable fishmeal alternative protein source for aquaculture. To date, no studies have explored the effects of fishmeal replacement with BSF V instar larvae or prepupae meals due to their peculiar nutritional properties on fish performances. This study investigated the effects of 100% replacement of fishmeal (control diet) with defatted BSF meals (V instar larvae and prepupae meals, treatments) on growth performance and welfare of zebrafish (Danio rerio), from larvae to adults, in a 60-day feeding trial. Following the inclusion of BSF meals, the expression of key genes involved in growth (igf1, igf2, mstnb, myod1, myog, myf5), hydrolysis of chitin (chia.2, chia.3, chia.5), immune- (il1b, il6, tnfα), and stress- (hsp70 and nr3c1) responses, as assessed by qPCR, was modulated in all of the molecular pathways, except for the stress response. Overall, our findings showed that both BSF meals can totally replace fishmeal without adverse impacts on adult zebrafish growth parameters (final total and standard length, final body weight, weight gain, daily growth rate, specific growth rate) and welfare, with BSF prepupae meal inducing the most beneficial effects, thus suggesting their potential application to meet fish requirements in aquaculture. Full article
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