Sustainable feed for insect protein production

用于昆虫蛋白生产的可持续饲料

• 批准号: BB/W017709/1
• 负责人: Neil Bruce
• 金额: $ 24.82万
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FW017709%2F1
• 关键词: Sustainable; feed; insect; protein; production

Growth of the human population is going to significantly increase demand for high quality sources of food and, in particular, high quality sources of protein. A deficit of the order of between 60 and 100 million tonnes of protein is projected by 2050. Meat and fish consumption has rapidly expanded in line with population growth and has resulted in aquaculture becoming the fastest growing food production industry in the UK and globally. However, the production of animal protein is reliant on external sources of protein e.g. soybean meal and fishmeal, which are slowing in production growth rate and diminishing in supply. For these reasons, the current and future rate of supply of protein is not sufficient to meet demand. This has food security implications for the UK which is a net importer of soybean meal. We must domestically produce a suitable source of protein to overcome these issues. A prospective solution is the rearing of the insect Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly larvae; BSFL) as they exhibit exceptionally high growth rates, population densities and reproduction rates and are suitable for vertical farming facilitating intensive and efficient farming at scale; however, the production of these insects is also reliant on a suitable source of feed. We have developed a novel process that converts inedible, inexpensive and abundant agricultural residues (e.g. wheat straw) into an edible feedstock for the production of BSFL. BSFL protein can then be sold into the existing market as an alternative source of protein, which can be used as a substitute for soybean meal and fishmeal in aquaculture and livestock feeds. We have identified and characterised a microbial strain that is exceptionally good at growing on lignin enriched biomass which comprise the majority of the by-products in the agricultural industry. We have developed a biobased process that releases the nutritional potential that is otherwise biologically unavailable to generate a feedstock that contains all of the essential nutritional components to support the growth of BSFL. Untreated lignocellulosic agricultural residues cannot support the growth of BSFL and the current BSFL producers utilise food-grade wastes that are highly heterogeneous and cannot be optimised, which leads to variation in the output yields and quality. Our process generates a reproducible and defined feedstock that supports reproducible yields of BSFL. The aim of this project is to optimise the bioconversion process such that the economic feasibility of the process is improved. The feasibility of the process is underpinned by the feedstock conversion ratio (FCR; the ratio of input feedstock to raw output BSFL). We plan to improve the FCR through a series of targeted analyses and multivariate experiments to increase the efficiency at which the feedstock is generated and the output quality of the feedstock. We will also identify the optimal larval rearing parameters with the newly generated feedstock to increase the FCR. We will assess the final BSFL products to ensure they meet market and regulatory standards.We envisage that our process has three potential routes to market. The first is that we anticipate the process to be incorporated as a front-end technology into current larval production facilities benefitting these companies by increasing scale and standardising output. The second is to produce the agricultural residue derived feedstock as a product and lastly we have the option to exploit the process to produce BSFL as a final product using a proprietary feedstock at a scale not currently achievable with feedstocks available to current producers.

人口的增长将显着增加对高质量食物来源，特别是高质量蛋白质来源的需求。预计到 2050 年，蛋白质缺口将达到 60 至 1 亿吨。肉类和鱼类消费随着人口增长而迅速扩大，导致水产养殖成为英国和全球增长最快的食品生产行业。然而，动物蛋白的生产依赖于外部蛋白质来源，例如动物蛋白。豆粕和鱼粉产量增速放缓，供应量减少。由于这些原因，当前和未来的蛋白质供应量不足以满足需求。这对豆粕净进口国英国的粮食安全产生影响。我们必须在国内生产合适的蛋白质来源来克服这些问题。一种潜在的解决方案是饲养昆虫 Hermetia illucens（黑水虻幼虫；BSFL），因为它们表现出极高的生长率、种群密度和繁殖率，适合垂直农业，促进大规模集约化和高效农业；然而，这些昆虫的生产也依赖于合适的饲料来源。我们开发了一种新工艺，可将不可食用、廉价且丰富的农业残余物（例如麦秆）转化为可食用原料，用于生产 BSFL。然后BSFL蛋白可以作为蛋白质的替代来源销往现有市场，在水产养殖和牲畜饲料中可以用作豆粕和鱼粉的替代品。我们已经鉴定并鉴定了一种微生物菌株，该菌株特别擅长在富含木质素的生物质上生长，这些生物质构成了农业工业的大部分副产品。我们开发了一种生物基工艺，可以释放生物上无法获得的营养潜力，以生成含有支持 BSFL 生长的所有必需营养成分的原料。未经处理的木质纤维素农业残留物无法支持 BSFL 的生长，并且当前 BSFL 生产商使用高度异质且无法优化的食品级废物，这导致产出产量和质量的变化。我们的工艺产生可重复且明确的原料，支持 BSFL 的可重复产量。该项目的目的是优化生物转化过程，从而提高该过程的经济可行性。该工艺的可行性取决于原料转化率（FCR；输入原料与原始输出 BSFL 的比率）。我们计划通过一系列有针对性的分析和多变量实验来提高FCR，以提高原料的生产效率和原料的输出质量。我们还将利用新生成的原料确定最佳幼体饲养参数，以提高 FCR。我们将评估最终的 BSFL 产品，以确保它们符合市场和监管标准。我们设想我们的工艺有三种潜在的市场途径。首先，我们预计该工艺将作为前端技术纳入当前的幼体生产设施中，通过扩大规模和标准化产量使这些公司受益。第二个是将农业残留物衍生的原料生产为产品，最后，我们可以选择利用该工艺，使用专有原料生产 BSFL 作为最终产品，其规模目前生产商可用的原料无法实现。