Life-history traits of house fly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), reared on three manure types

Abstract

House flies are typically revered as pests because they are a nuisance and carriers of pathogens; however, they are capable of converting animal wastes into valuable biomass that may be suitable for inclusion in animal diets, which has been explored for industrialisation outside of the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the life-history (life cycle) performance, dry matter reduction, and bioconversion of three different manure types fed to house fly larvae. Treatments consisted of 100 1-day-old larvae fed either 9 or 18 g of swine, dairy, or poultry manure every other day until 40% pupation. The control diet (50% wheat bran, 30% alfalfa meal, 20% cornmeal) produced superior results across all parameters examined. When comparing across feed rate for a manure type, larvae weighed more (4-16%) when provided the higher feed rate. A similar trend occurred for pupal (16-25%) and adult (8-25%) weight, as well as adult longevity (7-28%). In regards to those fed manure, significant differences (P<0.05) were detected for time to pupation, percentage pupation, adult weight and adult longevity, dry matter reduction, and bioconversion, across feed rates and manure types. Specifically, among those provided manure, larvae fed poultry manure delivered comparable results to those provided Gainesville diet except for time to pupariation, pupal weight, and percentage pupariation. Data from this study are necessary to advance industrial systems for managing animal wastes with house flies.