Advances in Insect Diet and Rearing Methodology (Volume II)

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Physiology, Reproduction and Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 6998

Special Issue Editors

Division of Plant Science & Technology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: insect nutrition; metabolomics; toxicology; insect artificial diet development; corn rootworm resistance management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Biological Control of Insects Research Laboratory, Institute of Plant Protection, Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tianjin 300384, China
Interests: improvement of artificial diet; nutriomics; insect nutrition; kairomone; banker media
Biological Control of Insects Research Laboratory, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Columbia, MO 65203, USA
Interests: insect nutrition; biochemistry; physiology; genomics of biological control agents

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ability to produce insects has a broad impact on human lives in a wide array of areas including insect pest and weed management, human and veterinary medicine, insect production for food and nutrient supplements, as well as research and education. Ideal insect rearing technologies should allow to produce insects which are physically and behaviorally similar to those in Nature in simpler, highly controlled, cost-effective, and convenient ways. Newer multi-omics technologies (transcriptomics, nutrigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiomics, etc.) increased knowledge of microbiomes, and the manipulation of nutrigenomic analysis and statistical optimization modeling have enabled advances in insect diet formulation. These advances have resulted in a better understanding of the effects of food stream ingredients on insects’ physiological and biochemical functions, in addition to improving insect rearing systems and promoting the production of high-quality insects.

Considering the success of the earlier Special Issue "Focus on Insect Rearing Methodology to Promote Scientific Research and Mass Production", we are pleased to launch a Special Issue on Advances in Insect Diet and Rearing Methodology. Both original submissions and reviews will be considered for publication.

Dr. Man P. Huynh
Dr. Deyu Zou
Dr. Kent S. Shelby
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • insect rearing methodology
  • artificial diet
  • mass production
  • transcriptomics
  • nutrigenomics
  • metabolomics
  • microbiomes
  • statistical optimization modeling
  • proteomics

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2635 KiB  
Article
Metabonomic Analysis of Silkworm Midgut Reveals Differences between the Physiological Effects of an Artificial and Mulberry Leaf Diet
by Juan Li, Jing Deng, Xuan Deng, Lianlian Liu and Xingfu Zha
Insects 2023, 14(4), 347; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14040347 - 31 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1368
Abstract
Bombyx mori is a model lepidopteran insect of great economic value. Mulberry leaves are its only natural food source. The development of artificial diets can not only resolve the seasonal shortage of mulberry leaves but also enable changes to be made to the [...] Read more.
Bombyx mori is a model lepidopteran insect of great economic value. Mulberry leaves are its only natural food source. The development of artificial diets can not only resolve the seasonal shortage of mulberry leaves but also enable changes to be made to the feed composition according to need. Metabolomic differences between the midguts of male and female silkworms fed either on fresh mulberry leaves or an artificial diet were studied using liquid chromatography–mass spectrography (LC-MS/MS) analysis. A total of 758 differential metabolites were identified. Our analysis showed that they were mainly involved in disease resistance and immunity, silk quality, and silkworm growth and development. These experimental results provide insights into the formulation of optimized artificial feed for silkworms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Insect Diet and Rearing Methodology (Volume II))
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16 pages, 1911 KiB  
Article
Higher Essential Amino Acid and Crude Protein Contents in Pollen Accelerate the Oviposition and Colony Foundation of Bombus breviceps (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
by Chang-Shi Ren, Zhi-Min Chang, Lei Han, Xiang-Sheng Chen and Jian-Kun Long
Insects 2023, 14(2), 203; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14020203 - 17 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1310
Abstract
Pollen is an important source of nutrition for bumblebees to survive, reproduce, and raise their offspring. To explore the nutritional requirements for the egg laying and hatching of queenright Bombus breviceps colonies, camellia pollen, oilseed rape pollen, apricot pollen, and mixtures of two [...] Read more.
Pollen is an important source of nutrition for bumblebees to survive, reproduce, and raise their offspring. To explore the nutritional requirements for the egg laying and hatching of queenright Bombus breviceps colonies, camellia pollen, oilseed rape pollen, apricot pollen, and mixtures of two or three types of pollen in equal proportions were used to feed the queens in this study. The results showed that the camellia pollen with a higher essential amino acid content was superior to the pollen with a lower essential amino acid content in the initial egg-laying time (p < 0.05), egg number (p < 0.05), larval ejection (p < 0.01), time of first worker emergence (p < 0.05), and the average weight of workers in the first batch (p < 0.01). It took less time for colonies under the camellia pollen and camellia–oilseed rape–apricot pollen mix treatments, both with a higher crude protein content, to reach ten workers in the colony (p < 0.01). On the contrary, the queens fed apricot pollen never laid an egg, and larvae fed oilseed rape pollen were all ejected—both pollens with a lower essential amino acid content. The results emphasize that the diet should be rationally allocated to meet the nutritional needs of local bumblebees at various stages when guiding them to lay eggs, hatch, and develop a colony. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Insect Diet and Rearing Methodology (Volume II))
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9 pages, 1845 KiB  
Communication
The Sweetgum Inscriber, Acanthotomicus suncei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Reared on Artificial Diets and American Sweetgum Logs
by Yan Zhang, Xueting Sun, You Li and Lei Gao
Insects 2023, 14(2), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14020186 - 14 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1215
Abstract
The sweetgum inscriber, Acanthotomicus suncei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is a recently discovered pest of American sweetgum planted in China, with a potential for causing a devastating invasion into North America. Research on the beetle has been hampered by a dwindling access to breeding [...] Read more.
The sweetgum inscriber, Acanthotomicus suncei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is a recently discovered pest of American sweetgum planted in China, with a potential for causing a devastating invasion into North America. Research on the beetle has been hampered by a dwindling access to breeding material. We tested the effect of four artificial diets on A. suncei’s developmental time, length and weight of adults, egg hatching rate, pupation rate, and eclosion rate. Additionally, we evaluated the same parameters on A. suncei reared on American sweetgum logs. Only one diet supported the full development of A. suncei after 30 d. Beetles reared on this diet, which was made of small quantities of agar and additives (i.e., inositol, potassium sorbate, and methylparaben), supported the shortest developmental time of 45.55 ± 1.24 d. Beetles reared on American sweetgum logs exhibited a longer developmental time of 59.52 ± 4.52 d. Beetles reared on the artificial diet were markedly bigger and heavier than those reared on American sweetgum logs (p < 0.01). The egg hatching rate (58.90% ± 6.80%) and eclosion rate (86.50% ± 4.69%) of A. suncei on the artificial diet were significantly greater than those on sweetgum logs. However, the pupation rate (38.60% ± 8.36%) was much lower on the artificial diet than on the sweetgum logs. Here, we reported the best artificial diet for A. suncei and discuss the advantages and disadvantages over rearing the beetle on American sweetgum logs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Insect Diet and Rearing Methodology (Volume II))
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19 pages, 5768 KiB  
Article
Differential Proteomics Analysis Unraveled Mechanisms of Arma chinensis Responding to Improved Artificial Diet
by Deyu Zou, Thomas A. Coudron, Huihui Wu, Lisheng Zhang, Mengqing Wang, Weihong Xu, Jingyang Xu, Liuxiao Song and Xuezhuang Xiao
Insects 2022, 13(7), 605; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13070605 - 02 Jul 2022
Viewed by 2101
Abstract
The development of artificial diets could considerably simplify and reduce the cost of mass rearing of natural enemies compared to conventional rearing methods. However, improvement of artificial diets can be tedious, convoluted and often uncertain. For accelerating diet development, a better method that [...] Read more.
The development of artificial diets could considerably simplify and reduce the cost of mass rearing of natural enemies compared to conventional rearing methods. However, improvement of artificial diets can be tedious, convoluted and often uncertain. For accelerating diet development, a better method that can offer informative feedback to target deficiencies in diet improvement is required. Our previous research demonstrated several biological characteristics were diminished in the insect predator, Arma chinensis Fallou, fed on an artificial diet formulated with the aid of transcriptomic methods compared to the Chinese oak silk moth pupae. The present study reports differential proteomic analysis by iTRAQ-PRM, which unravels the molecular mechanism of A. chinensis responding to improvements in the artificial diet. Our study provides multivariate proteomic data and provides comprehensive sequence information in studying A. chinensis. Further, the physiological roles of the differentially expressed proteins and pathways enable us to explain several biological differences between natural prey-fed and improved diet-fed A. chinensis, and subsequent proposed reformulation optimizations to artificial diets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Insect Diet and Rearing Methodology (Volume II))
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