Enhancing Food Production by Sustainable Cricket Farming in Thailand: Evaluating Black Soldier Fly Larvae as a Cost-Effective Feed Ingredient

The high cost of commercial feed presents a major barrier to scaling environmentally responsible cricket (<i>Acheta domesticus</i>) farming, particularly in low-resource settings. We investigated the use of <i>Hermetia illucens</i> (Black Soldier Fly Larvae, BSFL) combined with locally available ingredients to develop affordable, nutritionally balanced feed for <i>A. domesticus</i>. A three-phase experimental approach was used: (i) feed preference assessment from six ingredients; (ii) performance evaluation of four BSFL-to-commercial feed ratios; and (iii) formulation and testing of three practical recipes using Pearson's square method. Feed efficiency was measured via feed conversion ratio (<i>FCR</i>), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (<i>ECI</i>), and yield. A recipe consisting of 20.6% BSFL, 14.6% soybean meal, 29.1% corn meal, 17.8% rice meal, and 17.8% commercial feed achieved the best performance with an <i>FCR</i> of 2.2, <i>ECI</i> of 44.4%, and juvenile larvae yield of 99.9%. This formulation also reduced feed cost by 33% compared to commercial feed. The study confirmed that integrating BSFL with regionally sourced materials using a simple feed design method can enhance food security, reduce input costs, and support the transition toward circular insect farming systems.