Modifying the Rearing Environment to Maximize Juvenile Cricket Survival

Entomo农场生产地球上最可持续的超级食物之一：蟋蟀蛋白。Entomo农场希望增加产量，并寻求优化饲养技术的方法，以最大限度地提高蟋蟀的存活率。他们 ** 目前的数据表明，从新孵化到成年收获的存活率仅为~20%，最大的问题发生在1 - 3周（苗圃阶段），其中~50%的蟋蟀死亡。Bertram博士和她的团队将通过实验量化修改饲养环境的物理布置以最大限度地减少苗圃死亡的最佳方法来协助Entomo农场。伯特伦实验室将确定如何获得生命的基本要素（食物，水，住所）可以提高生存。蟋蟀的行为和运动可能会限制Entomo农场目前饲养环境中的食物获取，因此Bertram实验室将使用多因子设计来确定饲料托盘间距和覆盖物如何影响蟋蟀的生存（项目1）。Entomo农场目前的饲养环境也为蟋蟀提供了使用潮湿泥炭藓的水源。Bertram ** 实验室将确定是否将饮水机纳入项目1的最佳设计中，以提高生存率 **（项目2）。高密度饲养蟋蟀不可避免地会导致争斗和同类相食。因此，伯特伦实验室将 ** 量化修改庇护所配置如何减少战斗和同类相食，从而 ** 增加蟋蟀的生存率（项目3）。然后，Bertram博士和她的团队将把存活率最高的新型饲养设计（项目1 - 3的结果）带到Entomo Farms进行原位实验（项目4）。拟议的实验将确定如何改进饲养基础设施的物理安排，以提高苗圃蟋蟀的生存结果。因此，该项目将提供 ** 基于证据的增产最佳做法。Entomo Farms正在迅速扩张，以满足对替代蛋白质产品日益增长的需求。有鉴于此，Entomo农场迫切需要 ** 发展基础设施的技术进步，以大幅提高其生产力。加拿大将通过支持一个重要的替代蛋白质生产的新兴全球领导者而获益。

Entomo Farms produces one of the planet's most sustainable super-foods: cricket protein. Entomo Farms wants**to increase production, and seeks ways to optimize rearing techniques to maximize cricket survival. Their**current data suggests that the survival rate from newly hatched to adult harvest is only ~20%, with the biggest**concern occurring at 1-3 weeks (nursery stage), where ~50% of the crickets die. Dr. Bertram and her team will**assist Entomo Farms by experimentally quantifying the best way to modify the physical arrangement of the**rearing environment to minimize nursery die-offs. The Bertram Lab will determine how access to life's**essentials (food, water, shelter) can be enhanced to increase survival. Cricket behaviour and locomotion may**limit access to food in Entomo Farm's current rearing environment, so Bertram Lab will use a multifactorial**design to ascertain how feed tray spacing and cover influences cricket survival (Project 1). Entomo Farm's**current rearing environment also provides crickets with access to water using damp peat moss. The Bertram**Lab will ascertain whether incorporating water dispensers to the best designs from Project 1 enhances survival**(Project 2). Rearing crickets in high densities inevitably results in fights and cannibalism. The Bertram Lab will**therefore quantify how modifying shelter configurations can reduce fighting and cannibalism and, as a result,**increase cricket survival (Project 3). Dr. Bertram and her team will then take the novel rearing designs with the**highest survival rates (outcomes of Projects 1-3) to Entomo Farms to run experiments in situ (Project 4).**Together the proposed experiments will determine how refinements to the physical arrangement of the rearing**infrastructure can improve nursery cricket survival outcomes. As a result, the project will deliver**evidence-based best practices for increasing production. Entomo Farms are rapidly expanding to meet the**growing demands for alternative protein products. Given this, Entomo Farms have an imminent need to**develop technical advances to infrastructure to dramatically increase their productivity. Canada stands to gain**by supporting an emerging global leader in important alternative protein production.