| dc.description.abstract | The capability of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to feed on organic wastes has a potential to offer a solution for production of alternative protein to feed livestock and management of organic wastes for improved sanitation and quality of environment. However, growth and nutritional composition of BSFL is absolutely determined by nature and nutritional quality of the rearing organic waste. It is on this basis that a study involving two specific objectives namely (i) to determine the larval weight gain, prepupal yield and substrate reduction performance of BSFL fed on chick mash, irish potato peels, kales and bovine ruminal content and (ii) to evaluate the nutritional composition of BSF prepupae fed on chick mash, irish potato peels, kales and bovine ruminal content was conducted. The study involved four treatments; each was provided with 200 larvae and replicated three times in a complete randomized design (CRD). Data collected was tested for normality and homogeneity of variance using Shapiro-Wilk and Bartlett’s tests, respectively. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to test for significant mean differences among treatments including chick mash, irish potato peels, kales and bovine ruminal content while Tukey HSD method was used to separate the means at P < 0.05. R-statistical software version 4.0.2 was used to analyze the data. The results showed that irish potato peels and bovine ruminal content had the highest and lowest reduction rates, respectively (P < 0.05). The crude protein, lysine, methionine, phosphorus and calcium of BSF prepupae were influenced by the type rearing feed substrate (P< 0.05). Among the three tested feed substrates, kales significantly (P< 0.05) contributed to higher mean weight gain and prepupae yield of BSFL than irish potato peels and bovine ruminal content. This suggests that kale remains has a potential to replace chick mash in production of BSFL to feed livestock. The findings of this study give a room for mass production of BSFL for livestock feed using the tested organic wastes and this will reduce pressure on the use of fishmeal and soybean in formulating livestock feed hence reduces the challenge of food insecurity. In addition, the use of BSFL can offer a potentially viable solution for the disposal of ever-increasing amounts of organic waste in sub-Saharan countries. | en_US |