Assessment on Some Life Traits of the Bornean Strain, Black Soldier Fly Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) in Response to Food Waste and the Public Attitudes toward Food Waste Recycling

Tan, Pei Chin (2020) Assessment on Some Life Traits of the Bornean Strain, Black Soldier Fly Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) in Response to Food Waste and the Public Attitudes toward Food Waste Recycling. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).

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Abstract

Over the past decades, our eating habits have changed dramatically and contributed to huge amounts of food waste being generated. In Malaysia, attempts to minimize food wastage have mostly involved improving recycling rate, but success has been seriously hindered by a rooted culture of landfilling, and lack of awareness, recycling policies and habits. Despite evidence that food waste is largely due to consumer’ behaviours, there is still a paucity of comprehensive surveys addressing the different segments within consumption, particularly outdoors and in East Malaysia. Although many people love food but find its rotten form repugnant or poisoning, some animals use it as staple diet. These include Hermetia illucens, also known as the black soldier fly (BSF). Upon eclosion, its larvae need to immediately feed a variety of organic wastes for their entire life. Such attributes are being successfully used as waste management and resource recovery tools worldwide. All benefits from BSF depend on the successful larval development, which, in turn depends on waste source type and oviposition. Females oviposit once in their lifetime in various organic materials, which can support or impede larval development. In this regard, a better understanding of its oviposition preference is relevant. This research work aimed at (1) examining the capability of different feeding regimes (animal and plant based wastes) in supporting BSF larval development; (2) investigating the oviposition responses of BSF in response to different maturity of banana, abundance of pupal exuviae and colours of oviposition site; (3) quantifying food waste output from food servicing in Kuching; and (4) assessing the perception of Kuching citizens on food waste recycling. Under laboratory, BSF survived well when maintained on test wastes, with banana producing better pre-pupation successes. Banana produced bigger prepupae as development proceeded and when mixed with chicken. BSF prepupal size exhibited temporal relative to regime type. Wasted banana were highly attractive to gravid BSF females particularly in advance ripened stage. Conspecific pupal remains acted as attractant and deterrent when present at low and high amounts, respectively. Colour was influential to BSF oviposition; colourful sites (pink or purple) were attractive in contrast to yellow- coloured ones. In field, the survey revealed that food waste generation from food servicing is high across the city. For many interviewees in Kuching, knowledge on food waste reuse and benefits was poor, many of whom do not practice recycling and ignored insects as important consumers of food scraps. In sum, the observations that locally generated food waste are suitable for BSF development and oviposition, suggest the possibility for developing effective, sustainable and cheap waste management strategies in Kuching and similar cities. Also, these are supported with the field evidences that high amounts of food waste are generated in Kuching whereas awareness among the citizens on food waste recycling need to be increased.

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