PS-GO FEEDS project was born with the aim of suggesting an alternative protein source for feed, starting from agricultural wastes and by-products. The basic idea was to reuse some agricultural waste and by-products (vegetable waste and dust produced by cleaning cereals before storage in silos), produced by a Tuscan agricultural cooperative, L'Unitaria, to rear two insect species, Hermetia illucens and Tenebrio molitor. PSGO FEEDS aimed to introduce, adapt and transfer to Tuscan farms this innovative biotechnology, which uses insects for bioconversion, to transform agricultural waste and by-products into proteic meal and fats, to be used in the formulation of feeds for aquaculture, broilers and pets. Achieving this goal had provided an income opportunity to the agricultural sector, enabling it to compete on the new market that originated from the opening to the use of insect meal in feeds for fish, chickens and pigs. The obtained results are encouraging and support the idea to rear insects as a possible alternative to traditional proteic sources in feeds.

The pilot plant was set up and the production of dried insects was realized. Proteic meals were used for feeding tests on fish, poultry and pets.

The goals reached in the project were

a) optimization and validation of the production process of dried insects;

b) set up of guidelines which allow the replicability of the project in accordance with the regulations in force on breeding, feed, hygiene and animal welfare;

c) formulation of feeds suitable for fish and poultry feeding;

e) to reduce the competition between food of plant origin used in both human and animal nutrition;

f) the possible use of frass as soil conditioner.