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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2012, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (07): 1945-1951.

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Effects of fermented cattle dung on the growth and development of Tenebrio molitor larvae.

ZENG Xiang-wei1, WANG Xia2, GUO Li-yue1, ZHAN Li-jie1, BO Wen-jing3, LI Zhan1, WU Guang-lei1, JIANG Gao-ming1,3   

  1. (1State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, Shandong, China; 2Tai’an Institute for Science and Technology Information, Tai’an 271000, Shandong, China;3State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China)
  • Online:2012-07-18 Published:2012-07-18

Abstract: In order to make use of and industrialize the animal dung from large cattle farms, this paper explored the feasibility of using Tenebrio molitor to digest and utilize cattle dung. Cattle dung was mixed with the conventional feed (65% wheat bran, 30% corn flour, and 5% bean pulp) of T. molitor in definite roportions, and fermented with effective microorganisms (EM). The fermented products containing 60% and 80% of cattle dung (FD1 and FD2, respectively) were selected to feed T. molitor larvae, and the effects of the fermented products on the growth curve, death rate, pupation rate, and antioxidant system of the larvae were compared. Compared with CK (conventional deed), the FD1 made the developmental duration of the larvae prolonged by 10 days and the larvae’s death rate upraised somewhat, but made the single larva’s total food intake, average body mass, crude fat content, and ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat acids increased by 49%, 28%, 26%, and 32%, respectively (P<0.05), and the activity of larvae’s antioxidant system improved significantly, showing a remarkable adaptability of the larvae to FD1. Unlike FD1, FD2 displayed definite disadvantages in most test growth indicators, as compared with CK, indicating that T. molitor larvae had weak adaptability to FD2. Our findings suggested that using FD1 to feed the 3rd instar of T. molitor larvae would have good practical prospects in industrializing cattle dung.