Feeding preferences of the field cricket Scapsipedus icipe (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) for different species of Commelina

Abstract

http://www.eje.cz and high fecundity. In addition, it is more environmentally friendly and less expensive to rear insects for food.The fi eld cricket, Scapsipedus icipe Hugel and Tanga (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) (Tanga et al., 2018) is edible and could be used to reduce malnutrition at local and global levels. It is a native of Kenya and well adapted to the tropical climate of Africa including Madagascar (Tanga et al., 2018;Magara et al., 2021). This insect is highly nutritional in terms of protein, fat, fi bre, mineral and vitamins (Murugu et al., 2021). As food for humans, this cricket can be fried and eaten as a snack or processed into fl our and still remain highly nutritional. It can also be offered as feed for other insects (Mwale et al., 2022), or as food for livestock, such as pigs (Miech et al., 2017). Like other Gryllidae, S. icipe can feed on a variety of foods including agricultural by products, vegetable materials, commercial food, forage and even weeds (