Bridging the Gap: Scaling Up the Sustainable Production of the Yellow Mealworm with Agricultural By-Products—Insights into Larval Growth and Body Composition

Mariastela Vrontaki (), Christina Adamaki-Sotiraki, Christos I. Rumbos, Anastasios Anastasiadis and Christos G. Athanassiou
Additional contact information
Mariastela Vrontaki: Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Phytokou Str., 38446 Volos, Greece
Christina Adamaki-Sotiraki: Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Phytokou Str., 38446 Volos, Greece
Christos I. Rumbos: Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Phytokou Str., 38446 Volos, Greece
Anastasios Anastasiadis: Animal Feed Anastasiadi Single Member P.C., Akropotamia, 61100 Kilkis, Greece
Christos G. Athanassiou: Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Phytokou Str., 38446 Volos, Greece

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Amidst the escalating global demand for protein-rich livestock feed, there’s an urgent call to explore innovative alternatives. Insects, renowned for their rich protein, lipid, and nutrient profiles, offer a sustainable solution. Integrating agricultural waste into insect diets emerges as a promising strategy to alleviate rearing costs. However, large-scale investigations into by-product valorization remain limited. Thus, our study aims to evaluate Greek agricultural by-products—brewer’s spent grains, rice bran, oat and maize by-products, and animal feed mill leftovers—as potential feedstock for Tenebrio molitor larvae, an insect species that is authorized by the European Union for both livestock feed and human consumption. In this study, the larval growth and body composition were assessed in commercial trays, unveiling optimal performance with rice bran and brewer’s spent grains. Conversely, larvae fed with animal feed mill leftovers and maize by-products displayed suboptimal outcomes. These findings underscore the potential efficacy of integrating locally produced agricultural by-products into T. molitor commercial production. Such an approach not only addresses the growing demand for protein-rich livestock feed but also offers a sustainable solution to agricultural waste management. In conclusion, our research contributes valuable insights towards developing economically viable insect farming.

Keywords: agricultural side-streams; by-products; insects for food and feed; larval composition; mass rearing; yellow mealworm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/520/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/520/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:520-:d:1363236

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().