Effect of red clover-only diets on house crickets (Acheta domesticus) growth and survival

Abstract

This study evaluated the potential of red clover as a sole diet for house crickets (Acheta domesticus, AD) and the effect of ensiling or drying red clover biomass on growth, survival and water consumption of AD. Wild AD were caught near Uppsala, Sweden, and reared in a climate-controlled room under a 12-h light regime. One day-old third-generation cricket nymphs (n=2,880) were used in a 56-day feeding trial. The experimental diets (n=8) were early-cut (pre-bloom) and late-cut (late-bloom) red clover, preserved as frozen-fresh, dry-silage, haylage and hay, and a control diet. All clover diets were fed as sole diets with salt block available ad libitum in every treatment. Feed dry matter intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR, kg feed dry matter per kg weight gain), number and weight of crickets and water consumption were recorded every five days. FCR was higher for late-cut than early cut-red clover, but overall cricket weight and survival rate did not differ between cutting times (P=0.939). FCR, weight and survival were not affected by forage conservation method. Total feed consumption was highest for red clover hay. Crickets fed red clover diets had lower (P<0.01) weight and higher FCR than crickets fed the control diet, but their survival rate was not different from that of control crickets during the first 25 days of life. Water consumption of AD fed the control diet was about half that reported for pigs and poultry. Crickets fed on fresh red cover had lower (P=0.04) water consumption compared with crickets fed dried or ensiled red clover, but ensiling did not reduce water consumption compared with hay. Red clover cannot be recommended as a sole feedstuff for AD, but early and late-cut red clover had similar effects. The possibility to partly include late cut red clover in cricket diets is interesting from an ecosystem service perspective since the flowering crop will provide feed for declining populations of bees and other pollinators.

Evaluation of Organic Wastes as Substrates for Rearing Zophobas morio, Tenebrio molitor, and Acheta domesticus Larvae as Alternative Feed Supplements

“…Collavo et al [42] recorded a mean weight of 0.452 g for A. domesticus at the same age when reared on a human refuse diet, whereas Lundy and Parrella [17] recorded considerably lower values in response to food waste diets. Vaga et al [43] reported up to an 80% difference in the weight of A. domesticus fed a control diet containing 19.2% crude protein and 37.6% starch, and a red-clover-based diet. Collavo et al [42] found that an aromatic-arboreal diet is not optimal for A. domesticus, and its unbalanced nutritional value promoted cannibalism.…”

Growth, survival and development of house crickets (Acheta domesticus) fed flowering plants

“…The crickets were known to be free of house cricket densovirus (Semberg et al, 2019). Prior to the study, all individuals were reared on a cereal-and rapeseed-based control feed (as in Vaga et al, 2020), prepared from commercial wheat flour, oat bran, wheat bran, rapeseed meal (ExPro 00SF, AAK AB, Malmö, Sweden), CaCO 3 and vitamin-mineral premix (Table 1), and cold-pressed into ⌀ 3 mm pellets. In the experiments, nymphs were randomly allocated to control and experimental groups within 24 hours of hatching.…”

“…Flowering common gypsophila was acquired from a local flower retailer and dried by the same procedure as the other plants. The common nettle product (Vaga et al, 2020) show that the crickets mature between 54-60 days. The experiment was therefore run for 62 days, at which time the first crickets on control feed had matured.…”

“…Increased production of flowering plants in agricultural landscapes would likely benefit biodiversity, by providing feed for bees and other pollinators (Bommarco et al, 2012). We have previously shown that house crickets can utilise red clover (Trifolium pratense) in late bloom with similar efficiency as in early bloom, indicating that red clover can be part of the house cricket diet (Vaga et al, 2020). Identifying efficient, locally produced feed sources is important for establishing environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient production systems (Berggren et al, 2019).…”

Impact of starvation on fat content and microbial load in edible crickets (Acheta domesticus)

“…The temperature was kept at 30±1 °C and relative humidity at 45-55%, with a 12 h lighting regime. Feed was provided ad libitum and consisted of a pelleted feed mixture of oat bran, wheat bran, wheat meal, rapeseed meal, limestone, and a premix of vitamins and minerals (Vaga et al, 2020). Water was given in plastic tubes (10 × Ø 1.2 cm) that were refilled every 5-10 days.…”