Development and Utilization of Maggot Farming
Maggots can be used as high-quality animal protein feed, and also developed into medicine, health products, biochemical preparations, pesticides, and chemical products. The comprehensive utilization of maggot protein has tremendous economic value.
I. Feeding Effects of Maggots
Many feeding experiments have confirmed that using maggots or pupae to replace part or all of fishmeal as feed for livestock, poultry, and fish yields good results. Ningbo Shoukai Biological Technology Application Research Institute in Zhejiang Province conducted trials at an aquaculture hatchery with maggots. The growth rate, survival rate, and disease resistance of fish, shrimp, and crabs were significantly improved, indicating that maggots are a high-quality feed for aquaculture. Trials on laying hens (Xianju chicken breed) showed that compared to conventional farming, egg-laying hens started laying eggs 30 days earlier, and the egg-laying rate increased by 10%. Over four years, the survival rate of hens reached 100%, and the cholesterol content in their eggs was only 311 mg per 100 grams, a 55% reduction from the 680 mg found in ordinary eggs. This low-cholesterol egg produced through biological farming is highly welcomed by consumers. Additionally, there are reports of successful use of maggots for breeding scorpions, bullfrogs, quails, minks, shrimps, etc., yielding significant economic benefits.
II. Nutritional Composition of Maggots
According to domestic and international analyses of maggot nutritional composition, maggots contain 59-65% crude protein and 10-12% fat. Whether measured by raw material or dry powder, the crude protein content of maggots is similar to or slightly higher than fresh fish, fishmeal, and meat bone meal. The nutritional components of maggots are relatively comprehensive, containing various amino acids required by animals. Each type of amino acid content is higher than fishmeal. The total essential amino acids content is 2.2 times that of fishmeal, methionine content is 2.7 times that of fishmeal, and lysine content is 2.6 times that of fishmeal. The total essential amino acids content of maggot raw material and dry powder are 44.09% and 43.83%, respectively, exceeding the reference value of 40% proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Their essential amino acids (E) and non-essential amino acids (N) values are 0.79 and 0.78, respectively, both exceeding the reference values of 0.6 proposed by these organizations.
III. Processing and Utilization of Commercial Maggots
(1) Direct Use: Fresh maggots can be directly fed to chicks, quails, ornamental birds, bullfrogs, scorpions, special fish, shrimps, loaches, sables, geckos, etc.
(2) Maggot Protein Composite Feed: Maggots raised on chicken manure or agricultural by-products can be dried together with their culture medium, crushed, and processed into maggot protein composite powder, which can be added to chicken feed at 5-10% for excellent feeding results.
(3) Pure Maggot Protein Powder: Cleanly separated maggots are dried at high temperatures, sterilized, and ground into dry maggot powder with about 60% pure protein content, which can replace Peruvian fishmeal in various compound feeds.
(4) Edible Protein Powder: Maggots raised on artificial compound feed can be chemically extracted and spray-dried to obtain highly nutritious edible protein powder.
Feeding chicks with fresh maggots shows that adding 4 grams of fresh maggots daily for chickens aged 0-6 weeks, 8 grams for 7-12 weeks, and 10 grams after 13 weeks, with basic diets containing 19%, 15%, and 16% crude protein respectively, results in each kilogram of fresh maggots increasing chicken weight by 0.75 kilograms during the growth phase. The chickens start laying eggs 28 days earlier than the control group, with higher egg production and average egg weight throughout the period.
Feeding laying hens with 10% maggot powder versus 10% fishmeal shows that the egg-laying rate increases by 20.3%, feed efficiency improves by 15.8%, and feed cost decreases by 31.2%. Fresh maggots can be directly scattered into feeding troughs or on the ground, twice daily. After each batch of maggot production, residual materials with some maggots can be used together for feeding.
Comparison between feeding laying hens with 10% maggot powder versus 10% fishmeal shows that the egg-laying rate increases by 20.3%, feed efficiency improves by 15.8%, and profit per chicken increases by 72.3%. Adding 10 grams of maggots to each chicken under the same basic feed increases the egg-laying rate by 10.1%, reduces feed consumption by 0.44 kilograms per kilogram of eggs, saves 58.07 kilograms of feed, and produces one more kilogram of eggs for every 1.4 kilograms of fresh maggots, with lower disease rates and 20% higher survival rates than compound feed-fed chickens.
Adding maggots to piglets' diet shows a 7.18% increase in body weight and a 13% decrease in cost per kilogram of weight gain, with pigs fed maggots having 5% higher protein content in lean meat than those fed fishmeal.
In the chick stage, adding maggots increases chick weight by 0.75 kilograms per kilogram of fresh maggots, improving profitability by about 2 yuan, with chickens starting to lay eggs 28 days earlier than the control group, showing higher egg production and average egg weight.
Feeding American bullfrog larvae weighing 5-36 grams with maggots shows growth speed and survival rate comparable to yellow mealworms. Feeding juvenile softshell turtles one month out of the shell shows an average weight gain of 4.53 grams per turtle, a 160.27% increase, compared to 1.2 grams and 42.61% increase when fed egg yolk, making maggot feeding 3.8 times more effective.
Feeding shrimps with maggot powder shows good benefits, with stronger shrimp and fewer diseases.
Adding 11.3% maggot powder to chicken feed saves 40% of feed and reduces costs by half. Maggots not only provide optimal feed for special economic animals like shrimp, turtles, mountain chickens, quails, and various ornamental birds and fish but also supply large amounts of human food fats and various health products and medical antibiotics. The byproduct maggot shells can extract extremely pure chitin, which has great economic value in industry, agriculture, healthcare, and health care. Simple equipment, low investment, no risk, quick returns, with main raw materials being wheat bran, chicken and pig manure, alcohol dregs, etc. Raising a cage of flies at home allows their offspring to increase geometrically within a 12-15 day growth cycle. Producing protein from eggs and maggots costs less than 0.1 yuan per pound of fresh maggots. A single cage of flies can produce enough maggot protein in suitable summer temperatures to feed 20 pigs, 5000 mountain chickens, 10000 quails, 1000 turtles, and tens of thousands of fish and shrimp, reducing feeding costs and improving breeding efficiency while extracting chitin from maggot shells worth several ten thousand yuan. Using new plastic greenhouse technology for maggot farming suits year-round breeding, improving efficiency by 60% compared to normal temperature breeding, and using advanced technology to extract high-quality chitin since 1995. China began scientifically raising flies, using systematic methods to train germ-free flies, with an investment of 500 yuan allowing farming, generally yielding over 10,000 yuan annually (larger investments yield greater returns).
In summary, maggots and pupae, as live bait for livestock and fish, especially for young stages (like fry and chicks) and animals preferring live bait (like bullfrogs, ornamental birds, and scorpions), offer advantages unmatched by other feeds.