Insect protein artificial feed, preparation method and application

Abstract

This invention discloses an artificial insect protein feed, its preparation method, and its application. The artificial insect protein feed is prepared based on a feed base composed of mulberry leaf powder, corn flour, black soldier fly protein powder, sucrose, citric acid, compound vitamins, a mixture of inorganic salts, a gelling agent, and a preservative. Silkworms fed with this artificial insect protein feed showed better weight gain in the late fifth instar compared to control silkworms fed with commercially available feed. Furthermore, key economic traits such as total cocoon weight, cocoon weight, and cocoon percentage also showed an upward trend compared to silkworms fed with commercially available feed. This artificial insect protein feed uses black soldier fly protein instead of defatted soybean flour commonly used in commercial feeds, significantly improving nutritional composition and digestibility while mitigating uncertainties such as pesticide residues. This helps ensure batch-to-batch consistency of the feed, opening up a new and sustainable source of animal protein for silkworm artificial feed, reducing dependence on the soybean industry, and aligning with the diversified utilization of agricultural resources and the development of a circular economy.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to silkworm farming, and more particularly to an artificial feed containing insect protein, its preparation method, and its application. Background Technology

[0002] silkworm( Bombyx mori As a holometabolous lepidopteran economic insect that has been domesticated by humans for over 5,700 years, silkworms are the core biological resource of the sericulture industry, and their silk cocoons have extremely high economic value. Traditional silkworm farming relies on mulberry leaves for feeding, but mulberry leaf production is limited by season and region, making it difficult to meet the needs of factory-style, year-round silkworm farming.

[0003] Therefore, developing nutritionally complete and cost-effective artificial feed is key to achieving industrial upgrading. Currently, artificial feed mainly consists of mulberry leaf powder, defatted soybean powder, corn flour, and various vitamins and minerals. However, existing artificial feed formulations with defatted soybean powder as the main protein source have significant drawbacks.

[0004] First, the cost is high and highly volatile. The price of defatted soybean meal fluctuates frequently due to factors such as international soybean market supply and demand, climate, and trade policies, directly driving up feed costs. In some cases, feed costs even approach or exceed the revenue from silkworm cocoon sales. Second, the quality of raw materials is unstable. On the one hand, differences in temperature control and solvent types during defatted soybean meal preparation can lead to varying degrees of denaturation of soybean protein, thus affecting feed quality. On the other hand, defatted soybean meal naturally contains ether-soluble and alcohol-soluble substances that silkworms avoid, which, if not handled properly, can severely inhibit feeding behavior and growth. Furthermore, defatted soybean meal is also at risk of oxidative deterioration and mold growth during storage. All of these factors contribute to inconsistent quality of defatted soybean meal, affecting the stability of feed batches and the effectiveness of feeding.

[0005] More importantly, artificial feeds based on defatted soybean flour rely excessively on a single plant protein source, making the feed formulation less able to cope with raw material market risks and further limiting the possibility of extracting cost and performance advantages from other high-quality protein resources. Summary of the Invention

[0006] Purpose of the invention: The purpose of this invention is to provide an artificial feed based on insect protein that can be used for silkworm breeding; the second purpose is to provide a method for preparing the artificial feed based on insect protein and its application.

[0007] Technical solution: The artificial insect protein feed of the present invention is prepared based on a feed base, which, by weight percentage, consists of 25-35% mulberry leaf powder, 20-30% corn flour, 25-35% black soldier fly protein powder, 2-4% sucrose, 2-3% citric acid, 0.8-1.2% compound vitamins, 1-3% inorganic salt mixture, 3-5% gelling agent, and 0.3-0.7% preservative.

[0008] Preferably, in the feed base, the black soldier fly protein powder is a powder obtained from black soldier fly larvae through processes such as washing, drying, degreasing, and pulverizing. Its crude protein content is not less than 50%, and it is a high-quality animal protein with a balanced amino acid composition and rich in essential amino acids.

[0009] Preferably, the compound vitamins in the feed base consist of 85-95% B vitamins and 5-15% vitamin C by weight percentage.

[0010] Preferably, the inorganic salt mixture in the feed base consists of 7-8% KH2PO4, KCl, 28-32% NaH2PO4, 13-15% FeSO4, 1.5-2.5% CaCO3, 28-32% MgSO4, 6-6.4% ZnSO4, and 0.2-0.4% MnCl2 by mass percentage.

[0011] Preferably, in the feed base, the gelling agent is selected from at least one of carrageenan and agar, used to form a stable gel structure after heat sterilization, which is convenient for molding and for silkworms to eat.

[0012] Preferably, the preservative in the feed base is selected from at least one of sorbic acid and gallic acid; more preferably, the preservative is a compound of sorbic acid and gallic acid, with a mass ratio of (0.5~1):(0.5~1), which synergistically plays a role in preventing mold and oxidation.

[0013] The method for preparing the artificial insect protein feed of the present invention includes the following steps: (1) Weigh each raw material component and mix them thoroughly to obtain the feed base; (2) Add 1.5-2.5 times the total weight of water to the feed base obtained in step 1, stir thoroughly, and then sterilize. (3) After sterilization, the insect protein artificial feed was obtained by cooling and cutting.

[0014] Preferably, in step 2, the sterilization conditions are 120~122℃ and 0.1~0.15MPa, maintained for 20~40 minutes; in step 3, the thickness of the insect protein artificial feed obtained by segmentation does not exceed 0.5 cm.

[0015] The present invention relates to the application of the artificial insect protein feed in silkworm farming; preferably, the application is to promote silkworm growth and / or improve the economic efficiency of silkworm cocoons.

[0016] Beneficial Effects: Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following significant advantages: 1. The silkworms fed with the insect protein artificial feed of the present invention have better weight gain in the late fifth instar than the control group fed with commercial feed, and also show an upward trend in key economic traits such as total cocoon weight, cocoon weight, and cocoon ratio compared with silkworms fed with commercial feed; 2. The insect protein artificial feed uses black soldier fly protein to replace defatted soybean flour commonly used in commercial feed, which can significantly reduce raw material costs. At the same time, black soldier fly protein has high quality stability, which is conducive to ensuring consistency between feed batches. It opens up a new and sustainable source of animal protein for silkworm artificial feed, reduces dependence on the soybean industry, and conforms to the direction of diversified utilization of agricultural resources and circular economy development. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 for Figure 1 Flowchart of the process for preparing artificial feed for insect protein. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described below.

[0019] Example 1: Preparation of Artificial Insect Protein Feed (1) Raw materials weighed, by weight percentage, including: 30% mulberry leaf powder (mulberry leaves from the comprehensive experimental base of the Sericulture Research Institute of Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences), 26% corn flour (purchased from Heilongjiang Organic Grain Shop), 30% black soldier fly protein powder (dried insects from Jiangsu University of Science and Technology), 2.6% sucrose, 2.5% citric acid, 0.9% B vitamin mixture (purchased from Tongrentang, B vitamin tablets), 0.1% vitamin C, 0.25% sorbic acid, 0.25% gallic acid, 4% carrageenan (Sangon Biotech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., A601138), and 2% inorganic salt mixture.

[0020] The mulberry leaf powder and black soldier fly protein powder were prepared in-house. The mulberry leaf powder was prepared by drying fresh mulberry leaves at 60℃ for 8 hours, crushing them with a crusher, and then sieving them through a 60-mesh sieve. The black soldier fly protein powder was prepared by drying 6th instar black soldier fly larvae at 65℃ for 14 hours, crushing them with a crusher, and then sieving them through a 60-mesh sieve. Each 100g of the inorganic salt mixture contained 7.5g of KH2PO4, 30.0g of KCl, 14.0g of NaH2PO4, 2.0g of FeSO4, 30.0g of CaCO3, 10.0g of MgSO4, 6.2g of ZnSO4, and 0.3g of MnCl2.

[0021] (2) Dry powder mixing: Put all the above raw materials into a vertical mixer and mix them. Stir at 60 rpm for 15 minutes until the materials are evenly mixed to obtain the mixed dry powder. (3) Add water to adjust the consistency: Add 1.8 times the weight of distilled water to the mixed dry powder and continue stirring for 30 min to form a uniform and viscous slurry. (4) High-pressure sterilization: Divide the slurry material into fresh-keeping bags, with the filling amount not exceeding 2 / 3 of the fresh-keeping bag volume. Place them in a high-pressure steam sterilizer and sterilize at 121℃ and 0.12 MPa for 30 min; (5) Cooling, shaping, and cutting: After sterilization, remove the feed and allow it to cool naturally to room temperature in a clean bench. At this time, the material in the bottle has solidified into a uniform gel block. Cut it into thin slices with a thickness of 0.5 cm to obtain the finished product of insect protein artificial feed. Unused feed should be sealed and stored at 4°C.

[0022] Preparation process as follows Figure 1 As shown.

[0023] Example 2: Comparative Experiment on the Feeding Effect of Artificial Insect Protein Feed A feeding comparison experiment was conducted using the silkworm variety "p50" (provided by the Sericulture Research Institute of Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences) as the experimental subject.

[0024] All silkworms were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was fed the insect protein artificial feed prepared in Example 1; the control group was fed a commercially available artificial feed (purchased from Chongqing Zhengjia Feed Co., Ltd.). This commercially available silkworm artificial feed used defatted soybean flour as the main protein source, and other main components were basically the same as those in the experimental group. There were 8 replicates in each group and control group, with 10 silkworms in each replicate. All silkworms were raised on artificial feed from the larval stage.

[0025] All silkworms were raised under standardized conditions with the same temperature (26±1℃), humidity (75±5%), and photoperiod (12h light, 12h dark). On the third day and the sixth day of the fifth instar, all surviving silkworms from each replicate were weighed collectively to calculate the average weight.

[0026] 1. Evaluation of growth performance The average weight statistics are shown in Table 1. On the sixth day of the fifth instar, the average weight of the experimental group of silkworms was 50.60 g, slightly higher than the 49.46 g of the control group. The data indicate that replacing defatted soybean flour with black soldier fly larvae protein powder did not negatively affect the weight of silkworms during the critical growth stage and showed a certain growth advantage.

[0027] Table 1. Weight statistics of silkworms on the third and sixth days of the fifth instar.

[0028] 2. Cocoon quality evaluation After the silkworms spin their cocoons, 50 cocoons (5 replicates each) were randomly selected from the experimental group and the control group. The total weight of the cocoon and the weight of the cocoon shell were weighed one by one, and the cocoon layer rate was calculated using the following formula: cocoon layer rate (%) = cocoon shell weight / total cocoon weight × 100%.

[0029] The results are shown in Table 2. The average total cocoon weight (7.62 g) and average cocoon shell weight (1.60 g) of the experimental group were both higher than those of the control group (6.84 g, 1.40 g). The average cocoon layer ratio of the experimental group was 21.00%, which was also slightly higher than that of the control group (20.40%). This indicates that the insect protein artificial feed prepared in Example 1 has a positive effect on promoting cocoon formation and increasing cocoon silk yield.

[0030] Table 2 Cocoon quality evaluation results .

Claims

1. An artificial feed containing insect protein, characterized in that, The feed is prepared based on a feed base, which, by weight percentage, consists of 25-35% mulberry leaf powder, 20-30% corn flour, 25-35% black soldier fly protein powder, 2-4% sucrose, 2-3% citric acid, 0.8-1.2% compound vitamins, 1-3% inorganic salt mixture, 3-5% gelling agent, and 0.3-0.7% preservative.

2. The artificial insect protein feed according to claim 1, characterized in that, The feed base contains compound vitamins, which, by weight percentage, consist of 85-95% B vitamins and 5-15% vitamin C.

3. The artificial insect protein feed according to claim 1, characterized in that, The inorganic salt mixture in the feed base consists of KH2PO4, KCl, NaH2PO4, FeSO4, CaCO3, MgSO4, ZnSO, and MnCl2.

4. The artificial insect protein feed according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the feed base, the gelling agent is selected from at least one of carrageenan and agar.

5. The artificial insect protein feed according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the feed base, the preservative is selected from at least one of sorbic acid and gallic acid.

6. A method for preparing an artificial insect protein feed according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the step... include: (1) Weigh each raw material component and mix them thoroughly to obtain the feed base; (2) Add 1.5-2.5 times the total weight of water to the feed base obtained in step 1, stir thoroughly, and then sterilize. (3) After sterilization, the insect protein artificial feed was obtained by cooling and cutting.

7. The preparation method according to claim 6, characterized in that, In step 2, the sterilization conditions are 120~122℃ and 0.1~0.15MPa, maintained for 20~40 minutes; in step 3, the thickness of the insect protein artificial feed obtained by segmentation does not exceed 0.5cm.

8. The application of the insect protein artificial feed according to any one of claims 1 to 5 in silkworm breeding.

9. The application according to claim 8, characterized in that, The application described is for promoting the growth of silkworms.

10. The application according to claim 8, characterized in that, The application described is for improving the economic efficiency of silkworm cocoons.

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