Abstract
The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) larva are belived to be a potential means to degrade the organic matter such as food waste and divert the waste away from landfills. Thus the experiment on biodegradation by composting kitchen waste into organic fertilizer using the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae was conducted at AICRP on PHET of Dr P.D.K.V Akola with the objectives of the study is to investigate the decomposition efficiency of the black soldier fly larvae on kitchen waste and obtaining the organic compost. The experiment had 10 different feeding rates of BSFL were tested against a common substrate which was kitchen waste. In each container fixed quantity of kitchen waste was kept i.e. 20 kg and 6 days old larvae of BSF larvae were released in the proportion of 500 larvae to 5000 larvae as per treatments. 100 gm samples from the each treatments, waste and compost were analyzed for various parameters. The study showed that by adding 2000 larvae per 20 kg kitchen waste for 22 days in batch feeding, gives higher percent Substrate reduction (87.95%), and higher feed consumption (18.57%). The study revealed that the % organic carbon, N, P, K were observed within the range of 24.02–29.56%, 1.35–1.63%, 0.64–0.80% and 1.32–1.49% respectively. Compost obtained from T4 i.e. (2000 larvae per 20 kg kitchen waste) was recorded of best quality compost with favourable EC, ph, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.