Host Plant-Based Artificial Diets Enhance Development, Survival and Fecundity of the Edible Long-Horned Grasshopper Ruspolia differens (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

Publication Type

Journal Article

Journal Name

Journal of Insect Science

Name of Author

• Alfonce Leonard, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Nairobi
• James P. Egonyu, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Nairobi
• Chrysantus M. Tanga, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Nairobi
• Samuel Kyamanywa, Makerere University
• Sunday Ekesi, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Nairobi
• Fathiya M. Khamis, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Nairobi
• Sevgan Subramanian, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Nairobi

Publication Date

3-1-2022

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.

Keywords

development time, diet formulation, fecundity, mass rearing, mortality

PubMed ID

35349685

Recommended Citation

Leonard, A., Egonyu, J., Tanga, C., Kyamanywa, S., Ekesi, S., Khamis, F., & Subramanian, S. (2022). Host Plant-Based Artificial Diets Enhance Development, Survival and Fecundity of the Edible Long-Horned Grasshopper Ruspolia differens (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Journal of Insect Science, 22 (2) https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieac003

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.