Initial ground experiments of silkworm cultures living on different feedstock for provision of high quality animal protein for human in space Original Research Article

Silkworm could be an alternative to provide edible animal protein in Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) for long-term manned space missions. Silkworms can consume non-edible plant residue and convert plant nutrients to high quality edible animal protein for astronauts. The preliminary investigation of silkworm culture was carried out in earth environment. The silkworms were fed with artificial silkworm diet and the leaves of stem lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. angustana Irish) separately and the nutritional structure of silkworm was investigated and compared, The culture experiments showed that: (1) Stem lettuce leaves could be used as food of silkworm. The protein content of silkworm fed with lettuce leaves can reach 70% of dry mass. (2) The protein content of silkworm powder produced by the fifth instar silkworm larvae was 70%, which was similar to the protein content of silkworm pupae. The powder of the fifth instar silkworm larvae can be utilized by astronaut. (3) The biotransformation rate of silkworm larvae between the third instar and the fifth instar could reach above 70%. The biotransformation cycle of silkworm was determined as 24 days. (4) Using the stem lettuce leaves to raise silkworm, the coarse fiber content of silkworm excrements reached about 33%. The requirements of space silkworm culture equipment, feeding approaches and feeding conditions were also preliminarily designed and calculated. It is estimated that 2.2 m3 of culture space could satisfy daily animal protein demand for seven astronauts.