The unpaved road towards efficient selective breeding in insects for food and feed: A review

TY - JOUR

T1 - The unpaved road towards efficient selective breeding in insects for food and feed

T2 - A review

AU - Hansen, Laura Skrubbeltrang

AU - Laursen, Stine Frey

AU - Bahrndorff, Simon

AU - Sørensen, Jesper Givskov

AU - Sahana, Goutam

AU - Kristensen, Torsten Nygaard

AU - Nielsen, Hanne Marie

PY - 2025/6

Y1 - 2025/6

N2 - Insect production for food and feed presents a promising supplement to ensure food safety and address the adverse impacts of agriculture on climate and environment in the future. However, optimisation is required for insect production to realise its full potential. This can be by targeted improvement of traits of interest through selective breeding, an approach which has so far been underexplored and underutilised in insect farming. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the selective breeding framework in the context of insect production. We systematically evaluate adjustments of selective breeding techniques to the realm of insects and highlight the essential components integral to the breeding process. The discussion covers every step of a conventional breeding scheme, such as formulation of breeding objectives, phenotyping, estimation of genetic parameters and breeding values, selection of appropriate breeding strategies, and mitigation of issues associated with genetic diversity depletion and inbreeding. This review combines knowledge from diverse disciplines, bridging the gap between animal breeding, quantitative genetics, evolutionary biology and entomology, offering an integrated view of the insect breeding research area and uniting knowledge which has previously remained scattered across diverse fields of expertise.

AB - Insect production for food and feed presents a promising supplement to ensure food safety and address the adverse impacts of agriculture on climate and environment in the future. However, optimisation is required for insect production to realise its full potential. This can be by targeted improvement of traits of interest through selective breeding, an approach which has so far been underexplored and underutilised in insect farming. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the selective breeding framework in the context of insect production. We systematically evaluate adjustments of selective breeding techniques to the realm of insects and highlight the essential components integral to the breeding process. The discussion covers every step of a conventional breeding scheme, such as formulation of breeding objectives, phenotyping, estimation of genetic parameters and breeding values, selection of appropriate breeding strategies, and mitigation of issues associated with genetic diversity depletion and inbreeding. This review combines knowledge from diverse disciplines, bridging the gap between animal breeding, quantitative genetics, evolutionary biology and entomology, offering an integrated view of the insect breeding research area and uniting knowledge which has previously remained scattered across diverse fields of expertise.

KW - G × E interactions

KW - artificial selection

KW - breeding programme

KW - breeding values

KW - domestication

KW - genetic improvement

KW - genetic parameters

KW - insect breeding

KW - phenotyping

KW - production insects

KW - review

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85208981226&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/eea.13526

DO - 10.1111/eea.13526

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0013-8703

VL - 173

SP - 498

EP - 521

JO - Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata

JF - Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata

IS - 6

ER -