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The dearth of animal protein in Nigeria and the need for environmental friendly animal protein productionnecessitates the use of edible insects as an alternative protein source. To ensure the sustainability of edible insects, a cost-effective captive method of rearing needs to be devised. This study was designed to investigate alternative culture media for rearing African palm weevil Rhynchophorus phoenicis under captive management. One hundred and sixty eight palm weevils collected from ‘Mgbo swamp’ in Ebenebe town, Anambra State, were used for the study. The larvae were randomly assigned to eight different culture media (coconut fibre, coconut fibre with palm wine, sawdust of mahogany, sawdust of mahogany with palm wine, palm frond petiole, palm bunch midrib, sugarcanetops (SCT), spoilt watermelon (SWM)). Survivability, growth performance in terms of weight gain and increasein linear body measurements (within 10 weeks) as well as pupation of the larvae (within 35-40 days after the first 10 weeks) were monitored and used as indices of the suitability of each of the culture media. The result showedthat the larva thrived better in SWM and SCT but failed to pupate in SWM. The statistical analysis of the growth performance showed a significant difference (P<0.05) in weight gain in favour of larvae reared in SWM. Numericalvalues for larvae reared in SWM were 8.933±0.1764 and 7.433±0.66 g, respectively. There was no significantdifference (P>0.05) for the linear body measurement: 4.80±0.230 cm body length increases and 1.1±0.058 cm for body width increases for larvae on SWM, while those on SCT recorded 4.183±0.0601 cm body length increasesand 1.033±0.033 cm body width increases. Cocoon formation and pupation was not observed in the larva in the SWM in the 40-day period of observation
Survivability, growth performance and nutrient composition of the African Palm weevil (APW) (Rhyncophorus phoenicis) reared on four different substrates was investigated following earlier finding that Sugar cane tops (SCT) and Spoilt water melon (SWM) could be useful in captive rearing of the weevil. This necessitated a search into other waste fruits that could be used as media for rearing of APW as their infestation of oil and raffia palm is not only unfriendly to the environment but also wastage of economic resources. The growth and nutrient composition of the larvae in three waste fruits (Not rotten but not fit for human consumption): Spoilt Water Melon (SWM), Ripe Paw paw (RPP), Spoilt Pine apple (SPA) and Sugarcane tops (SCT: Off Cut from the tip of sugarcane) were compared in this study. One hundred and twenty newly emerged APW larvae of similar weights collected from "Mgbo swamp" in Ebenebe town, Anambra State, Nigeria, were used for the study which lasted for ten weeks. Thirty larvae were randomly assigned to each of the treatments (Culture media). The experiment was designed on a 4 x 3 Completely Randomized Designed, whereby each treatment had 30 APW larvae in three replicates of 10 larvae per replicate. The larvae were housed in plastic bowls of 30cm diameter and 40cm height. The bottom part of each bowl was perforated to let out moisture and the top covered with mosquito net to avoid flies. The substrates in each housing unit were removed and replaced with fresh ones on weekly basis to minimize microbial attack. Survivability, growth performance in terms of weight gain and increase in linear body measurements within 10 weeks were monitored and used as indices of the suitability of each of the culture media. At the end of the experiment three larvae were randomly selected from each replicate and taken to the
The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential benefits of substituting dietary fish meal with grasshopper meal on the growth performance of broiler chickens. The study was carried out in a mini-animal house of the Department of Biological Science, Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State, Nigeria. Seventy-two, 2-weeks old Arbor acres chicken strain were procured from May Farms, Gombe. The grasshoppers were collected using sweep net trapping method. They were oven dried and milled using local milling machine and incorporated into poultry diets by replacing dietary fishmeal at 0% (Control, A), 50% (B) and 100% (C). Each dietary treatment had 24 birds triplicates of eight birds per replicate in a completely randomized design. The birds were randomly allotted into pens demarcated with plywoods. The birds were fed the experimental diets throughout the six weeks period of the experiment and were subjected to similar managerial and dietary conditions during which time data was collected and used to evaluate weekly weight-gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, feed efficiency ratio and linear body measurements monitored. The weight-gain were significantly different (p<0.05) among the treatment groups where birds on Treatment C(1720.11±2.11 g) was highest followed by those on treatment B(1480.00±2.12 g) and the least mean final weekly weight gain of 1,287.98±1.20 g was observed in Treatment A; Also feed intake exhibited the same pattern of weight gain. For linear body measurements, the highest body length increase was recorded in Treatment C (21.39±1.01 cm) while the least was recorded in those on Treatment A, (15.49±1.10 cm). The same trend was observed for body width increase, thigh length increase, shank length increase and wing length increase. This study showed that dietary grasshopper meal promoted growth of broiler chicken and so would conveniently replace dietary fishmeal. Therefore, establishmentof insect farms are highly recommended to produce enough grasshopper meal to meet the demands of poultry feed industries. Keywords: Arbor acres; growth parameters; dietary grasshopper; chicken body; liner measurement
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