This study examined the impact of diet protein and carbohydrate percentages as well as moisture on the immature development, survivorship, and resulting adult longevity and egg production of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). Moisture impacted development and corresponding life-history traits more than protein:carbohydrate content; larvae were unable to develop on diets at 40% moisture. Larvae fed diets at 70% moisture developed faster, grew larger, and required less food than those reared on diets at 55% moisture. Larvae reared on the balanced diet (21% protein:21% carbohydrate) at 70% moisture developed the fastest on the least amount of food and had the greatest survivorship to the prepupal stage. Adult emergence and longevity were similar across treatments, indicating immature life-history traits were impacted the most. The control (Gainesville house fly) diet was superior to the artificial diets for all parameters tested. These differences could indicate that other constituents (e.g., associated microbes) serve a role in black soldier fly development. These data are valuable for industrialization of this insect as a “green” technology for recycling organic waste, which can be highly variable, to produce protein for use as feed in the livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries, as well as for bioenergy production.

Structural changes and growth of animal production systems have resulted in greater volumes of manure. Current manure storage methods pose a potential environmental threat. Lessening these issues is a key concern for the animal production industry. The primary aim of this research was to evaluate black soldier fly (BSF) performance when fed poultry, swine, or dairy manure at different rates (18 or 27 g/2 d until 40% prepupation). The results indicated that larvae fed with the control diet (Gainesville diet) were the heaviest (+31–70%); however, for other life-history traits, those fed the higher feed rate of poultry manure produced comparable results to the control. Larvae fed more resource, regardless of manure type, weighed more as larvae (+3–9%), pupae (+22–48%), and adults (+18–42%), developed faster (up to 3–4 d), had a higher percentage reach the prepupal stage (+2–16%), lived longer as adults (+1 d), and converted more resource to biomass (up to 1% more) than those fed at the lower rate. Yet, no difference was detected in dry matter (DM) reduction across feed rate for a given manure type. Based on these results, all three manure types can be digested by black soldier fly larvae, thus demonstrating their potential for waste management.

Blow flies are commonly associated with decomposing material. In most cases, the larvae are found feeding on decomposing vertebrate remains; however, some species have specialized to feed on living tissue or can survive on other alternate resources like feces. Because of their affiliation with such septic environments, these insects have close associations with microbes. Historically, a tremendous amount of research focused on these insects due to their veterinary importance. Within the past 40 yr, efforts have expanded this research to include areas such as systems ecology, forensics, and even wound debridement (maggot) therapy. Initial research efforts examining the relationship between microbes and these insects were hampered by the technology available. However, with the advent of high-throughput sequencing and modern molecular techniques, new avenues of research examining these interactions have opened up. The purpose of this article is to highlight the research exploring the interactions between microbes and blow flies with regards to blow fly biology, the application of such information to benefit humanity, and potential future pathways of research.

Recent interest in the mass production of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae has resulted in many studies being generated. However, a majority of the studies are benchtop, or small-scale, experiments. Results generated from such studies may not translate to large-scale/industrial production. The current study was conducted at a conventional large-scale (10,000 larvae/treatment fed seven kg) to determine the impact on selected life-history traits when BSF were fed seven kg of manure (swine, dairy, or poultry) or a control diet (Gainesville diet: 50% wheat bran, 30% alfalfa meal, and 20% corn). Results showed larvae fed dairy manure took one to two days longer to develop to prepupation, with lower survivorship (45%) compared to those fed poultry or swine manure (>70%). Furthermore, the maximum larval weight was reached on day six for those fed swine manure, while other treatments achieved the maximum weight on day seven. However, larvae fed swine manure averaged 150 mg, while those fed the other diets ranged between 175 and 200 mg. Data from this study may be valuable for the industrialization of BSF. Companies using a scale varying from previously published work, including this study, should conduct pilot studies to optimize their system prior to implementation.

The black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), has considerable global interest due to its outstanding capacity in bioconverting organic waste to insect biomass, which can be used for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture feed. Mass production of this insect in colonies requires the development of methods concentrating oviposition in specific collection devices, while the mass production of larvae and disposing of waste may require substrates that are more palatable and more attractive to the insects. In insects, chemoreception plays an essential role throughout their life cycle, responding to an array of chemical, biological and environmental signals to locate and select food, mates, oviposition sites and avoid predators. To interpret these signals, insects use an arsenal of molecular components, including small proteins called odorant binding proteins (OBPs). Next generation sequencing was used to identify genes involved in chemoreception during the larval and adult stage of BSF, with particular attention to OBPs. The analysis of the de novo adult and larval transcriptome led to the identification of 27 and 31 OBPs for adults and larvae, respectively. Among these OBPs, 15 were common in larval and adult transcriptomes and the tertiary structures of 8 selected OBPs were modelled. In silico docking of ligands confirms the potential interaction with VOCs of interest. Starting from the information about the growth performance of H. illucens on different organic substrates from the agri-food sector, the present work demonstrates a possible correlation between a pool of selected VOCs, emitted by those substrates that are attractive for H. illucens females when searching for oviposition sites, as well as phagostimulants for larvae. The binding affinities between OBPs and selected ligands calculated by in silico modelling may indicate a correlation among OBPs, VOCs and behavioural preferences that will be the basis for further analysis.

An unavoidable by-product of any animal production system, be it vertebrate- or invertebrate-based, is the manure generated by the animals themselves. In this review, we focus on the role that insects, particularly the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), could play in managing the mass amount of manure produced through animal agriculture, and the subsequent commodities that could be generated by such a system. Although the focus of this review is on the black soldier fly, we postulate that other species, including the lesser mealworm Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and the house fly Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) are also well poised to help with the challenge of managing animal manure, while generating products of value.