Abstracto

Proximate and Mineral Analyses of the Hawk Moth Larvae (Agrius convolvuli L.) Harvested in Mogonono, Kweneng District, Botswana

Bamphitlhi Tiroesele, Batsile R. Seletlo, John C. Moreki

The study determined the proximate composition of Hawk moth larvae (Agrius convolvuli L.) harvested in Mogonono village in Kweneng District of Botswana. Dry salted Hawk moth larvae (monakamongwe in Setswana) were obtained in Mogonono, about 15 km north-east of Molepolole. The standard procedures of AOAC (1995) were followed to analyze the proximate composition and mineral analysis. The Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), copper (Cu) manganese (Mn) and sodium (Na) were determined. Proximate analysis showed that the Hawk moth larvae contained 17% ash, 58.5% crude protein, 25.1% crude fat, 9.0% crude fibre and 5.6% moisture. The mineral analysis showed that Hawk moth larvae contained 185.6 mg/kg ± 7.09 Fe, 67.4 mg/kg ± 8.87 Zn, 12.6 mg/kg ± 0.71 Cu, 18.4 mg/kg ± 0.96 Mn, 0.14% ± 0.01 Ca, 1.4% ± 0.09 Na and 1.20% ± 0.07 P. The current results showed that hawk moth larvae have nutritional benefits making it an alternative protein source in livestock and human diets.