Cargando…

Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insects have recently attracted considerable scientific and commercial interest as an alternative nutrient source. Agricultural wastes is a big, often untapped, pool of nutrients which could be used for insect rearing. Insects can actually feed on these byproducts, converting these l...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rumbos, Christos I., Bliamplias, Dimitrios, Gourgouta, Marina, Michail, Vasilios, Athanassiou, Christos G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8066754/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33801757
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12040293
_version_ 1783682642675236864
author Rumbos, Christos I.
Bliamplias, Dimitrios
Gourgouta, Marina
Michail, Vasilios
Athanassiou, Christos G.
author_facet Rumbos, Christos I.
Bliamplias, Dimitrios
Gourgouta, Marina
Michail, Vasilios
Athanassiou, Christos G.
author_sort Rumbos, Christos I.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insects have recently attracted considerable scientific and commercial interest as an alternative nutrient source. Agricultural wastes is a big, often untapped, pool of nutrients which could be used for insect rearing. Insects can actually feed on these byproducts, converting these low-cost materials to insect protein that will be further exploited as food or feed. In this study, we evaluated ten byproducts of the seed cleaning process of cereals and legumes as feed for larvae of two insect species, i.e., the yellow and the lesser mealworm. The larval growth and survival, as well as the time it took the larvae to become pupae and the amount of feed consumed by larvae were monitored throughout the experiments. According to our results, most of the byproducts tested supported the larval growth of both species. However, larvae grew better when fed with lupin and triticale byproducts. These results aim to enhance the sustainability profile of insect production and integrate insect farming with circular economy practices. ABSTRACT: The exploitation of agricultural byproducts and organic side-streams as insect feeding substrates is advantageous for insect farming both from an economic and a sustainability perspective. In this context, in the present study we evaluated the suitability of ten byproducts of the cereal and legume seed cleaning process for the rearing of larvae of the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, and the lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus. Byproducts were offered singly to 20 T. molitor and 50 A. diaperinus larvae with provision of carrots as moisture source. After four weeks of undisturbed development, larval weight and survival was evaluated biweekly until pupation. Feed utilization and economic feasibility parameters were determined for each byproduct at the end of the bioassays. Our results show the suitability of several of the byproducts tested for the rearing of T. molitor and A. diaperinus larvae. The best results though among the byproducts tested in terms of larval growth and survival, development time and feed utilization were obtained with larvae fed with lupin and triticale byproducts, which efficiently supported complete larval development. The results of our study aim to boost the integration of circular economy strategies with insect farming practices.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8066754
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-80667542021-04-25 Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts Rumbos, Christos I. Bliamplias, Dimitrios Gourgouta, Marina Michail, Vasilios Athanassiou, Christos G. Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insects have recently attracted considerable scientific and commercial interest as an alternative nutrient source. Agricultural wastes is a big, often untapped, pool of nutrients which could be used for insect rearing. Insects can actually feed on these byproducts, converting these low-cost materials to insect protein that will be further exploited as food or feed. In this study, we evaluated ten byproducts of the seed cleaning process of cereals and legumes as feed for larvae of two insect species, i.e., the yellow and the lesser mealworm. The larval growth and survival, as well as the time it took the larvae to become pupae and the amount of feed consumed by larvae were monitored throughout the experiments. According to our results, most of the byproducts tested supported the larval growth of both species. However, larvae grew better when fed with lupin and triticale byproducts. These results aim to enhance the sustainability profile of insect production and integrate insect farming with circular economy practices. ABSTRACT: The exploitation of agricultural byproducts and organic side-streams as insect feeding substrates is advantageous for insect farming both from an economic and a sustainability perspective. In this context, in the present study we evaluated the suitability of ten byproducts of the cereal and legume seed cleaning process for the rearing of larvae of the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, and the lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus. Byproducts were offered singly to 20 T. molitor and 50 A. diaperinus larvae with provision of carrots as moisture source. After four weeks of undisturbed development, larval weight and survival was evaluated biweekly until pupation. Feed utilization and economic feasibility parameters were determined for each byproduct at the end of the bioassays. Our results show the suitability of several of the byproducts tested for the rearing of T. molitor and A. diaperinus larvae. The best results though among the byproducts tested in terms of larval growth and survival, development time and feed utilization were obtained with larvae fed with lupin and triticale byproducts, which efficiently supported complete larval development. The results of our study aim to boost the integration of circular economy strategies with insect farming practices. MDPI 2021-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8066754/ /pubmed/33801757 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12040293 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Rumbos, Christos I.
Bliamplias, Dimitrios
Gourgouta, Marina
Michail, Vasilios
Athanassiou, Christos G.
Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts
title Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts
title_full Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts
title_fullStr Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts
title_full_unstemmed Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts
title_short Rearing Tenebrio molitor and Alphitobius diaperinus Larvae on Seed Cleaning Process Byproducts
title_sort rearing tenebrio molitor and alphitobius diaperinus larvae on seed cleaning process byproducts
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8066754/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33801757
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12040293
work_keys_str_mv AT rumboschristosi rearingtenebriomolitorandalphitobiusdiaperinuslarvaeonseedcleaningprocessbyproducts
AT bliampliasdimitrios rearingtenebriomolitorandalphitobiusdiaperinuslarvaeonseedcleaningprocessbyproducts
AT gourgoutamarina rearingtenebriomolitorandalphitobiusdiaperinuslarvaeonseedcleaningprocessbyproducts
AT michailvasilios rearingtenebriomolitorandalphitobiusdiaperinuslarvaeonseedcleaningprocessbyproducts
AT athanassiouchristosg rearingtenebriomolitorandalphitobiusdiaperinuslarvaeonseedcleaningprocessbyproducts