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Maintaining a consistent supply of feedstock for efficient bioconversion of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) presents challenges due to the fluctuating availability of biowastes and agri-food products. To address the challenge of consistent feedstock supply for BSFL, this study investigated the influence of three preservation methods: wild fermentation, inoculated fermentation, and acidification on agri-food by-products applied over three storage durations (1, 7, and 14 days), evaluating their impact on BSFL bioconversion, and feedstock nutrient and microbiota composition. The preserved feedstocks were characterized for gross nutrient, sugar, fermentation metabolite, and bacterial community analyses. All feedstock preservation methods and storage durations had a high bioconversion rate (21-25 % dry mass) and wet larval mass (170-196 mg). Notably, 7-and-14-day acidified feedstock had a significantly higher bioconversion rate compared to fermented feedstock. Acidification preserved feedstock nutrients best with only a 10 % difference compared to initial nutrient values. Fermentation produced typical lactic acid fermentation metabolites with reducing sugar contents; however, adding a lactic acid bacterial inoculum (7 log 10 CFU kg feedstock -1 ) had no benefit, presumably due to the high nutrient content and existing richness in lactic acid bacteria. Preservations had little influence on Enterobacteriaceae (6.2-7.5 log 10 CFU g -1 ) in freshly harvested larvae. Future research should assess the acidification and fermentation of different BSFL feedstocks and investigate the roles of feedstock pH, organic acids, and fermentation metabolites in more detail. Therefore, this study advances toward reliable and efficient insect-based nutrient recovery from agri-food by-products within the food system., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL, Hermetia illucens (L.)) are recognized for efficient biowaste reduction while yielding valuable proteins and fats for animals. However, lignocellulosic fibers in biowastes are difficult to digest by biowaste and larval digestive tract microorganisms as well as the larvae themselves. This study investigated two biowaste physical pretreatments (thermal, mechanical) for improving BSFL processing of fibrous biowastes. Cow manure, spent grain, and grass clippings were thermally pretreated at 90 °C for three durations (0.5, 1 and 4 h). Contrary to expectations, thermal pretreatment resulted in either no improvement or decreased larval performance on all substrates, regardless of treatment duration. In contrast, mechanical pretreatment of spent grain and grass clippings, involving milling with three screen sizes (0.5, 1 and 2 mm) showed promising results. Specifically, bioconversion rates on 0.5 mm-milled spent grain and grass clippings increased by 0-53 % and 25-44 % dry mass, respectively compared to untreated. Additionally, larval protein conversion increased by 41 % and 23 % on spent grain and grass clippings, respectively. However, mechanical pretreatment did not affect fiber degradation by larval conversion, as hemicellulose decreased by 25 % and 75 % for spent grain and grass clippings, respectively, regardless of particle size. Particle size reduction influenced substrate microbial respiration (CO 2 mg/min), with 0.5-mm milled grass clippings exhibiting higher respiration compared to untreated, although this effect was not observed for spent grain. This study highlights mechanical pretreatment's potential in enhancing BSFL bioconversion of fibrous biowastes and the importance of understanding substrate physical properties influencing substrate microorganisms and BSFL., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Biowaste treatment with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL, Hermetia illucens L.) can promote a more sustainable food system by reusing nutrients that would otherwise be wasted. However, many agri-food wastes and byproducts are typically high in lignocellulosic fibers (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin), making it resistant to efficient larval and/or microbial degradation. Ammonia pretreatment could be used to partially degrade lignocellulose, making the biowaste more easily degradable by the larvae and/or microorganisms. This study evaluated ammonia pretreatment for lignocellulose degradation and its effect on BSFL performance on four fibrous biowastes: brewers spent grain, cow manure, oat pulp, and grass clippings. First, the optimal ammonia dose (1 % or 5 % dry mass) and pretreatment time (three or seven days) were assessed by measuring fibers after treatment and further examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Second, BSFL rearing performance on ammonia-pretreated substrates was assessed with a 9-day feeding experiment. Three-day pretreatment with 5 % ammonia was chosen as it decreased the total fiber content by 8-23 % for all substrates except cow manure. Contrary to expectations, ammonia pretreatment with all substates decreased BSFL rearing performance metrics by more than half compared to the untreated control. Follow-up experiments suggested that ammonia pretreatment had a dose-dependent toxicity to BSFL. Interestingly, three-day fermentation of cow manure and oat pulp increased bioconversion rate by 25-31 %. This study shows that ammonia pretreatment is not suitable before BSFL rearing. Ammonia toxicity to BSFL and other pretreatments, such as fermentation, should be further studied., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Incorporation of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) in fecal sludge management shows promise as a resource recovery strategy. BSFL efficiently convert organic waste into valuable lipids and protein, which can be further processed into commercial products. Ensuring the microbial safety of waste-derived products is critical to the success of resource-oriented sanitation and requires the development of effective sludge treatment. This study evaluates the microbial treatment efficacy of the viscous heater (VH) for fecal sludge management and potential application of the VH in BSFL production. The VH is a heat-based fecal sludge treatment technology that harnesses the viscosity of fecal sludge to achieve pasteurization temperatures. Inactivation of in situ Escherichia coli , total coliform, heterotrophic bacteria, and somatic coliphage was evaluated in fecal sludge that was treated for 1-6 min at VH temperature set-points of 60°C and 80°C. The VH inactivated in situ E. coli , total coliform, and somatic coliphage in fecal sludge to below the limits of detection (1- to 5-log 10 inactivation) when operated at the 80°C set-point with a 1-min residence time. Both temperature set-points achieved 1- to 3-log 10 inactivation of in situ heterotrophic bacteria. The VH was also evaluated as a potential pretreatment step in BSFL production. BSFL grown in untreated and VH-treated fecal sludge demonstrated similar results, indicating little impact on the BSFL growth potential by VH-treatment. However, BSFL bioconversion rates were low for both substrates (1.6% ± 0.6% for untreated sludge and 2.1 ± 0.4 VH-treated fecal sludge)., Competing Interests: No competing financial interests exist., (© Daniela A. Peguero et al. 2021; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.)