Maggot Meal: A Sustainable Protein Source for Livestock Production-A Review

Abstract

With a growing world population and increasingly demanding consumers, the production of sufficient protein from livestock, poultry, and fish represents a serious challenge for the future especially, in the developing countries. Maggot, the larvae of the domestic fly (Musca domestica) has ability to grow on a large range of substrates and this can make them useful to turn wastes into a valuable biomass rich in protein and fat. Studies have shown that maggot meal has a great benefit as a potential protein source in poultry nutrition and its use as fish and crustaceans feed in pond farming has been studied extensively since the late 2000s. Therefore, mass production of maggot meal must be encouraged as this will offer solution to the high cost of protein feed in fish and livestock production.

Keywords: maggot meal, protein source, livestock production