Chloé Losier
Project
Performances variables en conditions d’élevage selon les souches de ténébrion meunier (Insecta : Coleoptera : Tenebrionidae : Tenebrio molitor)Recently, demand for edible insects as food and feed has increased. Many insect species are consumed worldwide, including Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Tenebrio molitor, better known as the yellow mealworm, is a promising species for mass rearing. Similarly to traditional meat producers, yellow mealworm producers seek ways to maximize production yield. Production yield maximization requires controlling numerous parameters such as environment and nutrition. Recent studies have shown that different yellow mealworm strains could exhibit variable yields under different rearing conditions. Those studies, however, are recent and leave numerous questions unanswered about the role of strain in rearing. To further our knowledge of the variable growth of yellow mealworm strains, we measured the growth performance of different strains from Europe and North America at different rearing conditions. Differences in growth were observed, supporting the idea that some strains may be better adapted for mass rearing. The results obtained during this master’s project suggest that yellow mealworm strains should be further studied. This master’s project is a step in furthering our knowledge of factors impacting yellow mealworm rearing yield. In addition to strain variation, this project aimed to observe the importance of temperature, nutrition and larval density on yellow mealworm growth performance.
Publications
1- When the red-lined carrion beetle disrupts successional dynamics on large vertebrate carcassesPopescu, Luciana-Elena, Chloé Losier, Gaétan Moreau
2023 Forensic Science International
2- Fall Decay Deceleration in Northern Latitudes: Merely a Matter of Cold?
Losier, Chloé, Denis R Boudreau, Kathleen LeBlanc, Jean-Philippe Michaud, Gaétan Moreau,
2023 Journal of Medical Entomology
