Affiliation:
1. Environmental Health Theme, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, P.O. Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
2. Department of Agricultural Production, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda
3. Department of Crops, Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI)-Ukiriguru, P.O. Box.1433, Mwanza, Tanzania
Abstract
Abstract
Wild swarms of the long-horned grasshoppers Ruspolia differens (Serville) which are widely harvested for consumption and sale in Africa are seasonal and unsustainable, hence the need for innovative ways of artificially producing the insects. We investigated the development, survival, and reproduction of R. differens in the laboratory on diets mixed with host plants [Digitaria gayana Kunth, Cynodon dactylon (L.) and Megathyrsus maximus Jacq (Poales: Poaceae); Ageratum conyzoides L. (Asterales: Asteraceae)] identified from guts of their wild conspecifics with a view to developing a suitable diet for artificial mass rearing of the edible insect. A standard diet comprising ground black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Startiomyidae) larvae, soybean flour, maize flour, vitamin premix, and ground bones was tested for rearing R. differens as a control against the same ingredients incorporated with individual powders of the different host plants. Whereas R. differens developed more slowly in the diet mixed with D. gayana than in the control diet; its development was faster in the diet mixed with C. dactylon. Mortalities of R. differens in host plant-based diets were 42.5–52.5%, far lower than in the control diet with 71% mortality. The insects raised on the diet mixed with M. maximus laid approximately twice more eggs compared to R. differens fecundities from the rest of the diets. However, inclusion of host plants in the diets had no detectable influence on R. differens adult weight and longevity. These findings support inclusion of specific host plants in artificial diets used for mass rearing of R. differens to enhance its survival, development, and fecundity.
Funder
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
Fund for International Agricultural Research
BioInnovate Africa Programme
Canadian International Development Research Centre
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Government of the Republic of Kenya
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Insect Science,General Medicine
Cited by
5 articles.
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