| dc.description.abstract | The United States is a major producer of livestock and poultry. As such, large volumes of manure are produced annually. This fact coupled with the lurking concern of the growing global human population and environmental impact of current manure storage practices calls for alternative methods to manage manure. Both black soldier flies (BSF), Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) and house flies (HF), Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) are capable of reducing manure volume, as well as odorous compounds and pathogens and converting it into valuable biomass, but a better understanding of the bioconversion of different manure types (swine, dairy, or poultry) and nutrient reduction capabilities at different scales (small vs. large-scale production) is necessary to develop these systems. Results from the small-scale BSF study show that larvae fed poultry manure weighed more as prepupae (15–37%), developed faster (4–9 days), had higher survivorship to the prepupal stage (>94%), lived longer as adults (1–2 d), and converted more resource to biomass (3–4%) than those fed dairy or swine manure. A similar trend was found in the HF small-scale study for pupal weight, but more larvae survived to the pupal stage when fed swine manure (58–66%). When comparing the results from the small-vs-large-scale results, BSF larvae reared on a small-scale weighed less (30–45%), had a shorter development time (2–6 d) and higher survivorship (6–17%), and higher nutrient reductions (> 50%) compared to those reared on a larger scale. A similar pattern was found when comparing the HF studies, except lower survivorship (4–15%) was found in the small-sale study. In addition to these findings, the competitive interaction of these species on manure was evaluated as the presence of one species can impact the production of the other. Results demonstrate that HF are true pests, capable of surviving to the pupal stage on aged poultry manure (up to 6-d-old) with and without BSF; however, the presence of HF can negatively impact BSF survivorship and development. Collectively, these findings may assist in optimizing production of BSF or HF on manure. | |
