Efficient Harvesting of Safe Edible Grasshoppers: Evaluation of Modified Drums and Light-Emitting Diode Bulbs for Harvesting Ruspolia differens (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) in Uganda.

Ruspolia differens (Serville) (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) is a delicacy in many African countries. It is commonly mass-harvested from the wild using light traps consisting of energy-intensive mercury bulbs which pollute the environment when poorly disposed. The catch is collected using open-ended drums which are inefficient in retaining the insects. The drums also collect nontarget insects including those that produce toxic chemicals (such as pederin) that cause severe burns to human skin. To prevent escape of trapped R. differens, trappers apply potentially hazardous substances like waste cooking oil on the walls of drums. Here, we modified the collection drum by fitting a funnel to retain R. differens; and partitioned it into three compartments with wire meshes of variable sizes to filter nontarget insects. Additionally, we replaced mercury bulbs with light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs which are energy-efficient. We evaluated the performance of the modified R. differens trap (modified drums and LED bulbs) compared to the current collection drums and mercury bulbs. The catch of R. differens in the modified drums was comparable to that of current drums. Nontarget insects were significantly filtered from the catch collected in modified drums compared to the current drums. Further, LED bulbs of 400 W trapped a comparable quantity of R. differens as 400 W mercury bulbs, but with less than half the consumption of electricity compared to the mercury bulbs. We concluded that modified R. differens light traps have better energy-use efficiency and ensure safety to collectors, processors, and consumers.

Insects for Income Generation Through Animal Feed: Effect of Dietary Replacement of Soybean and Fish Meal With Black Soldier Fly Meal on Broiler Growth and Economic Performance.

The ever-increasing animal feed costs are driving many vulnerable communities involved in animal husbandry out of business. The high cost is mainly driven by the protein source, which represents the most expensive component in animal feed. In conventional feed, protein is obtained mainly from soybean and fish meal (SFM). The present study explored potential of partially replacing this SFM with black soldier fly prepupae meal (BSFPM) in Cobb 500 broiler chicken diets. A SFM-based diet was compared to three experimental diets formulated by partially substituting SFM with BSFPM at 13.8, 27.4, and 42.0% of the crude protein (CP) in the starter feed and 11.0, 37.2, and 55.5% of the CP in the finisher feed of diets D1, D2, and D3, respectively. Dietary effects on average daily feed intake, average daily body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics, breast meat sensory attributes, and the economic implication of their use in broiler production were evaluated. Replacement of SFM with BSFPM did not affect daily feed intake, daily body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, aroma or taste of cooked breast meat. A 16.0% higher Cost Benefit Ratio and 25.0% better Return on Investment was recorded when the birds were reared on the highest concentration of black soldier fly (D3) compared to the conventional diet which was 19.0% more expensive. The implication of these findings for the promotion of insect mass production enterprises for animal feed protein, and their potential for income generation and job creation particularly in developing countries is discussed.

DNA Barcode Reference Library for the African Citrus Triozid, Trioza erytreae (Hemiptera: Triozidae): Vector of African Citrus Greening.

Citrus (Citrus spp.) production continues to decline in East Africa, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania, the two major producers in the region. This decline is attributed to pests and diseases including infestation by the African citrus triozid, Trioza erytreae (Del Guercio) (Hemiptera: Triozidae). Besides direct feeding damage by adults and immature stages, T. erytreae is the main vector of 'Candidatus Liberibacter africanus', the causative agent of Greening disease in Africa, closely related to Huanglongbing. This study aimed to generate a novel barcode reference library for T. erytreae in order to use DNA barcoding as a rapid tool for accurate identification of the pest to aid phytosanitary measures. Triozid samples were collected from citrus orchards in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa and from alternative host plants. Sequences generated from populations in the study showed very low variability within acceptable ranges of species. All samples analyzed were linked to T. erytreae of GenBank accession number KU517195. Phylogeny of samples in this study and other Trioza reference species was inferred using the Maximum Likelihood method. The phylogenetic tree was paraphyletic with two distinct branches. The first branch had two clusters: 1) cluster of all populations analyzed with GenBank accession of T. erytreae and 2) cluster of all the other GenBank accession of Trioza species analyzed except T. incrustata Percy, 2016 (KT588307.1), T. eugeniae Froggatt (KY294637.1), and T. grallata Percy, 2016 (KT588308.1) that occupied the second branch as outgroups forming sister clade relationships. These results were further substantiated with genetic distance values and principal component analyses.