Growth performance of common house cricket (Acheta domesticus) and field cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) crickets fed on agro-byproducts

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the growth performance of Acheta domesticus and Gryllus bimaculatus fed on different agro-byproducts. The experiment was carried out between February- July 2017 within Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology Insect Farm. Randomized Complete Block Design was used as the experimental design with four treatments: rice bran+ blood meal (RBBM), rice bran + spent grain (RBSG), & + rice bran + spent yeast (RBSY) and Grower’s mash (GM) as the control. 100g of each feed type was provided ad libitum for a week. Mean adult weight for G. bimaculatus were 0.989±0.02g, 0.6038±0.19g, 0.7333±0.23g and 0.6758±0.22g for cohorts fed on GM, RBSY, RBBM and RBSG respectively while the mean adult weight for A. domesticus were 0.6085±0.022g, 0.3415±0.12g, 0.368±0.11g and 0.4598±0.15g for cohorts fed on GM, RBSY, RBBM and RBSG correspondingly. Both species and treatment affected growth rate of the crickets significantly (P