Abstract
The demand for protein will increase dramatically in the future. At the same time, we face major challenges related to e.g. greenhouse gas emissions causing climate changes, where the agricultural sector is a large contributor. Proteins
from insects can be produced more sustainable compared to other animal protein sources because they generally have higher nutritional value, higher feed conversion efficiency, and produce less ammonia and greenhouse gasses than
conventional livestock. However, commercial production of insects for food and feed is still in its early stage, and little has been done to improve quantity and quality of products from insects through selective breeding. The expectation is
that implementation of selective breeding programs for traits of economic importance in insect production can lead to tremendous genetic progress and further optimize the production. In this study, we present expected selection response in the houseflies Musca domestica. The traits were; larval size and development time for which we have estimated heritabilities of 0.1 and 0.3, respectively. In our simulations we select 80 dams and 40 males and each dam produced 10 offspring. Candidates were evaluated purely on sib information. Because the genetic correlation between larval size and development time is presently unknown but expected to be unfavourable, the correlation was varied from 0 to 0.6. With equal economic values on the two traits, it was possible to improve both traits simultaneously. With a correlation of e.g. 0.3, response in larval size was 0.72 mm2, whereas response in development time was -10.4 hours. This study shows that there is a large potential for selecting for important production traits in insects such as the housefly. The knowhow from this study will help to design breeding plans for insect species used for food and feed production.
from insects can be produced more sustainable compared to other animal protein sources because they generally have higher nutritional value, higher feed conversion efficiency, and produce less ammonia and greenhouse gasses than
conventional livestock. However, commercial production of insects for food and feed is still in its early stage, and little has been done to improve quantity and quality of products from insects through selective breeding. The expectation is
that implementation of selective breeding programs for traits of economic importance in insect production can lead to tremendous genetic progress and further optimize the production. In this study, we present expected selection response in the houseflies Musca domestica. The traits were; larval size and development time for which we have estimated heritabilities of 0.1 and 0.3, respectively. In our simulations we select 80 dams and 40 males and each dam produced 10 offspring. Candidates were evaluated purely on sib information. Because the genetic correlation between larval size and development time is presently unknown but expected to be unfavourable, the correlation was varied from 0 to 0.6. With equal economic values on the two traits, it was possible to improve both traits simultaneously. With a correlation of e.g. 0.3, response in larval size was 0.72 mm2, whereas response in development time was -10.4 hours. This study shows that there is a large potential for selecting for important production traits in insects such as the housefly. The knowhow from this study will help to design breeding plans for insect species used for food and feed production.
| Originalsprog | Dansk |
|---|---|
| Publikationsdato | 2023 |
| Status | Udgivet - 2023 |
| Begivenhed | 74th Annual Meeting of European Federation of Animal Science - Lyon, Frankrig Varighed: 26 aug. 2023 → 1 sep. 2023 Konferencens nummer: 74 |
Konference
| Konference | 74th Annual Meeting of European Federation of Animal Science |
|---|---|
| Nummer | 74 |
| Land/Område | Frankrig |
| By | Lyon |
| Periode | 26/08/2023 → 01/09/2023 |