Production cycle of lesser mealworm: larvae, feeds and substrate

The microbial community dynamics during an industrial production cycle of lesser mealworms was studied. To this end, samples were taken during the production cycle of 1) the feeds (being dry feed and moist feed) before administering, 2) the larvae and 3) the remaining substrate in the crates (= remaining feeds, faeces and exuviae). Samples were subjected to high-throughput Illumina sequencing and fungal isolates were identified using Sanger sequencing.