Modelling black soldier fly egg mass for commercial production

The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) is gaining industrial acceptance as a means of food waste management through waste reduction by the fly larvae. Improving waste reduction requires feed rate optimization which is dependent on population size. Initial populations are introduced using egg masses. Current counting methods for fly egg clutches are tedious, time-consuming, and destructive. For commercial applications, faster and easier methods are required. The present study addresses this need by developing non-destructive, fast and easy ways to quantify the number of eggs oviposited by females. We used egg mass volume and egg mass weight to generate a linear model. Egg mass volume was obtained by taking pictures of egg masses and calculating surface area and depth measurements using ImageJ software, while egg mass weight was obtained by weighing egg masses on a digital scale. Furthermore, the linear models generated were validated by sampling egg masses from the population to test the accuracy of the prediction of the model. Based on these results and using the predictive models, both egg mass weight and volume independently provide quantitative estimates of the number of eggs quickly and easily in a non-destructive manner. This provides a commercially scalable tool to optimize population densities vital for optimizing feed rates using black soldier fly in waste management.