Cultivation of housefly larvae (Musca domestica L.) as a biological method to enrich rice straw and maximise its utilisation

This study is aimed at presenting a new biological technique to enrich rice straw via the cultivation of Musca domestica (MD) and at evaluating the outcome of this technique using in vitro and in vivo studies. Rice straw was treated using molasses and water at 17.5: 0.375: 7.0 (w/v/v), respectively. The mixture was left in an open shaded area for 11 successive days to allow MD to lay eggs and produce larvae. During this time, the recorded temperature was 35.6±2.2 °C and the humidity was 49±5.7%. Rice straw treated with 4% urea (URS) and untreated rice straw (RS) were used for comparison with in vitro and in vivo MD maggot rice straw (MRS). The crude protein (CP) and ether extract (EE) contents gradually increased during the first 8 days, and then began to gradually decrease until the 11th day. In vitro studies were performed on RS, MRS and URS as a single substrate. Instead, in the in vivo studies, experimental RS was offered ad libitum to sheep, and a concentrate feed mixture was provided as pellets to cover the maintenance requirements. The volume of produced gas and the in vitro degradability of the organic matter (OM), ash-free neutral detergent fibre, and CP (P