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ABSTRACT
Hermetia illucens larvae are generalist terrestrial detritivores that can grow on a variety of organic materials, including fruits, vegetables and animal manure. This study was designed to investigate the influence of water leaf and sweet potato waste diet on pre-adult developmental rate of Hermitia illucens, black soldier fly. The effect of larval diets on developmental period, survival, weight gain and sex ratio were investigated. Proximate analysis was also carried out on the various diets. The mean developmental period (days) of larvae raised in water leaf, sweet potato and water leaf/sweet potato were20, 19 and 20days respectively. The mixture and water leaf had highest developmental rate than sweet potato. There was no significant variations (P>0.05) in the developmental percentage and sex ratio whereas percentage survival varied significantly. The sex ratio of male to female in all the diets was 1:1. Percentage survival rate for water leaf, sweet potato and water leaf/sweet potato were,17.81%, 50.25% and 77.38% respectively. Mixture of water leaf and sweet potato had more survival rate than water leaf and sweet potato. The black soldier fly larvae fed with water leaf had weight increase of 34.38% while that of sweet potato had 44.09% and water leaf/sweet potato 73.69% weight increase. The result of proximate analysis carried out on the various diets showed significant difference in diets. Sweet potato had higher amount of ash content, crude fibre and carbohydrate compared to water leaf while water leaf had a higher protein content than sweet potato. The analysis of result showed that the type of diets played an enormous role in the population dynamics of Hermitia illucens, the combination of both diets being suitable for its rearing.
