Effect of Diet on the Growth Performance, Feed Conversion, and Nutrient Content of the House Cricket

Abstract

The house crickets, Acheta domesticus, are sustainable and nutritious future sources of food, due to their nutritional benefits, particular high protein content and potential in solving global malnutrition. Different diets, particularly protein content, can influence the growth and nutritional value of crickets. The aim of this present study was to evaluate the effects of commercial diets and other formulated diets on the nutritional composition and growth parameters of the house crickets, being a major challenge to cricket’s farmers in Thailand. Feed conversion ratio were 1.50, 1.50, and 1.51 for fed crickets on a blend of 22% protein and dry pulp pumpkin powder, fed 22% protein plus fresh pumpkin pulp, and fed 22% protein alone, indicated that these groups are high feed convertors and represented the quality of these diets compared to 1.73 and 1.81 for fed crickets on a blend of 22% and 16% protein, and those fed on 16% protein alone. Fed crickets on 22% protein had the highest amount of protein (76%), the lowest (48%) in those fed on 22% protein and fresh pumpkin pulp inclusion. The group on 22% protein diet also had the highest amount of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sodium. Fed 22% protein and either dry pulp pumpkin powder or fresh pumpkin pulp condition have shown improvement in vitamin B content. Crickets can effectively be produced on 22% protein diet to improve yield output and several minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sodium. In contrast, the supplementation of 22% protein diet with pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) will improve vitamin B content.

Nutritional value of insects and ways to manipulate their composition

“…Several studies report on the B-vitamin content of commercially raised insects (Bawa et al, 2020;Finke, 2002Finke, , 2013Finke, , 2015bJones et al, 1972). However, the B-vitamin content of unprocessed wild-caught insects is limited (Finke, 2015b;Igwe et al, 2011;Kinyuru et al, 2010a,b).…”

“…One B-vitamin that appears to be low in many species of insects is thiamine (vitamin B1). Many species of commercially raised or wild caught insects including house crickets, adult yellow mealworms, superworms (Zophobas morio), butterworms, (Chilecomadia moorei) Turkistan roaches (Blatta lateralis), pallid wing grasshoppers (Trimerotropis pallidipennis), and rhinoceros beetles (Oxygrylius ruginasus) contain low levels of thiamine (<3.0 mg/kg DM) although others (black soldier fly larvae, adult house flies, silkworms, yellow mealworm larvae, waxworms (Galleria mellonella), and white-lined sphinx moths (Hyles lineata) contain much higher levels (5.0 to 45.0 mg thiamine/kg DM) (Bawa et al, 2020;Finke, 2002Finke, , 2013Finke, , 2015b. This variation is similar to that observed for 14 insect species collected in Nigeria (0.3 to 32.4 mg thiamine/kg dry mater) (Banjo et al, 2006) and three species from Angola (1.3 to 36.7 mg thiamine/kg DM) (Santos Oliveira et al, 1976).…”

“…For instance, the fat content of yellow mealworms fed four different diets ranged from 23 to 29% DM, while Argentinean cockroaches (Blaptica dubia) fed these diets ranged from 16 to 40% DM (Oonincx et al, 2015a). Similarly, the fat content of house crickets fed five different diets ranged from 9 to 44% (Bawa et al, 2020). The fat content of velvet bean caterpillars (Anticarsia gennatalis) is 40 to 65% higher on an artificial diet compared to leaves from three plants (Cookman et al, 1984).…”

Valorisation Potential of Using Organic Side Streams as Feed for Tenebrio molitor, Acheta domesticus and Locusta migratoria

“…Nutritional data of house crickets also seem to have a large variability in lipid (range 6–21%) and protein (range 56–67%) levels among different studies [ 12 , 40 , 54 , 95 ], probably due to the different diets used in these studies. Most studies indicate that crickets are very rich in proteins and less in fats, and their diet can affect the nutritional composition to some limited extent.…”

‘Insects as Food and Feed: If You Can’t Beat Them, Eat Them!’—To the Magnificent Seven and Beyond

“…This was to one extent achieved by the papers published, which address various aspects of the topic of this special issue. The first contribution to this special issue is a paper by Bawa et al (2020) on the diet effects on the nutritional composition and growth parameters of A. domesticus . This species is one of the mostly farmed insect species in Thailand, whereas it is one of the species that can be included in aquafeeds in EU.…”