Study of the potentiality of insect breeding system for human food in Cambodia (Ratanakiri province)

The main purpose of this work was to optimize a cheap cricket breeding production for local farmers based on unused wild resources. Cricket development (Teleogryllus testaceus (Walker)) was compared according to seven diets composed of different ratio of aerial parts of taro, young cassava leaves, young cashew leaves, brown rice flour (with or without banana slices) and between the traditionally used chicken feed diet. Cricket mortality was low on all diets (<10 %) excepted on the two cashew-based diets (>90 %). Mean adult body mass was significantly higher on chicken feed diet and on the two cassava-based diet than on the other. Moreover, protein percentage in cassava-feed crickets was similar with this of wild crickets. As each villager grows cassava for their tubers without using the leaves, this free available resource could be used to rear crickets in order to contribute to the reduction of protein deficiency and create new source of incomes for local farmers.