Growth performance ofAcheta domesticus andGryllus bimaculatus production reared under improvised cage system for increased returns and food security

Abstract

Cricket farming is emerging as a new venture in Kenya poised to help alleviate protein deficiency and improve household living standards. However, competing, limited and unaffordable rearing systems constrain productivity and optimisation of this new enterprise. This study sought to evaluate the growth performance ofAcheta domesticus andGryllus bimaculatus reared in improvised cage system to assess its technical effectiveness. Twenty-day old of both species of crickets were separately reared in improvised and conventional cage systems for comparison purposes. Whereas an improvised cage system is a set of structure devised using locally available materials especially where the standard materials are limited, a conventional cage system is a set of structure made of standard and ordinary materials. The improvised system comprised of bamboo hideouts, clean scrap blankets for drinking and laying, cut bamboo stem as drinking platter and the plywood-based cages while conventional system comprised of egg carton hideouts, cotton-wool for drinking and laying, plastic petri-dishes, and plastic buckets. Each group of crickets (100 live crickets) was daily provided with equal amount of feed and water. Average weekly temperature and relative humidity profiles were recorded using HOBO data loggers. Further, 49 live crickets per treatment were randomly sampled and weighed weekly. Generalised additive model and analysis of variance were adopted to model the data therefrom using R. The cage system had a significant effect on the growth performance of the crickets. The mean weight of the cricket species differed, but not the interaction with the cage system. Similarly, species, temperature and relative humidity also influenced the growth performance. Compared to the conventional system, improvised cage system showed better results in realising high cricket productivity though there was no significant difference in growth performance between the two systems. The focus therefore should be to evaluate the egg productivity in scrap blanket in relation to cotton wool and cost effectiveness in improvised system to inform future farm decisions.