Black soldier fly and yellow mealworm live larvae for broiler chickens: Effects on bird performance and health status

The commercial broiler chicken strains are the result of successful selection programmes. Most of the problems related to welfare arise from the high growth rate and body weight. The use of environmental enrichments in intensive farming could have a positive effect on birds by increasing animal welfare. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of Hermetia illucens (HI) and Tenebrio molitor (TM) live larvae in the diets of broiler chickens on growth performance, carcass yield and health status. A total of 180 four-day-old male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to 18 pens. Each pen was assigned to one of the three dietary treatments (6 replicates/treatment, 10 birds/replicate) as follows: (i) control diet (C): commercial feed (two feeding phases: starter [4–11 days] and grower [12–38 days]), (ii) HI: C + 5% of the expected daily feed intake (DFI) HI live larvae (calculated on dry matter [DM]) and (iii) TM: C + 5% of DFI TM live larvae (DM). At 39 days of age, birds were slaughtered. Growth performance parameters were overall not affected by dietary treatments, except for the grower phase feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the overall FCR being better in the TM broilers than the others (p < 0.01). No differences were observed for slaughtering performance and haematological and serum parameters, except for the spleen relative weight being higher (p < 0.01) in the birds administered with larvae when compared to the C group. Gut morphometric indexes and histopathological alterations were not influenced by insect larvae administration. In conclusion, the administration in limited quantities of HI and TM live larvae as environmental enrichment has no negative effects on broiler chicken growth performance and health status. A behavioural study could confirm that live insect larvae represent a novel natural environmental enrichment in broiler farming.     

烟青虫初孵幼虫的高效快速收集方法

比较了常用的烟青虫人工收集方法和新研发的烟青虫初孵幼虫快速收集方法的效果。试验结果表明,与人工收集方法相比,快速收集方法获得初孵幼虫所用时间少,收集的初孵幼虫存活率搞,达96.33%,且收集的幼虫发育更加整齐,雌、雄蛹单头质量(雌蛹295.33 mg,雄蛹284.66 mg)略大;还可节省大量人力,避免了人工挑虫对初孵幼虫的伤害,保障了烟青虫实验种群的大量优质扩繁。     

蝇蛆养殖技术的研究：Ⅰ.影响成蝇卵量的因子作用模型

蝇蛆含有丰富的营养物质,是一种很有前途的动物蛋白源。本文采用正交旋转组合设计方法建立了影响种蝇卵量的多目标因子作用模型,并进行了主因子效应和交互效应分析。结果表明:种蝇饲养室温度是影响种群产卵历期的主因子;饲养室温度和饲养密度是影响前20天总卵量的主因子;饲养密度和光照时数对种群卵量的交互效应显著;饲养室温度和光照时数对种群产卵历期的交互效应显著。     

武汉南湖摇蚊幼虫中国新记录

本文记述了武汉南湖摇蚊幼虫中国新记录属、种。６个新记录种为美丽前突摇蚊Ｐｒｏｃｌａｄｉｕｓ （Ｐｓｉｌｏｔａｎｙｐｕｓ）ｂｅｌｌ－ｕｓ（Ｌｏｅｗ），毛突摇蚊Ｃｈａｅｔｏｃｌａｄｉｕｓ ｓｐ．，普隆蒂内曼摇蚊Ｔｈｉｅｎｅｍａｎｉｏｌａ ｐｌｏｅｎｅｎｓｉｓ Ｋｉｅｆｆｅｒ，伸足凯氏摇蚊Ｋｉｅｆｆｅｒｕｌｕｓ ｔｅｎｄｉｐｅｄｉｆｏｒｍｉｓ Ｇｏｅｔｇｈｅｂｕｅｒ，微小摇蚊Ｍｉｃｒｏｃｈｉｒｏｎｏｍｕ     

Spawning success and early life history of longnose suckers in Great Lakes tributaries

Fish eggs and larvae are often subject to very high mortality, and variation in early life survival can be important for population dynamics. Although longnose suckers (Catostomus catostomus) are widespread in northern North America, little is known about their early life history. We examined fecundity and early larval survivorship during sucker spawning events in three small Lake Michigan tributaries. Although egg deposition varied 25% among spawning events, estimated larval export to the lake varied over 25,000‐fold from around 1000 to 26 million. Based on variation in environmental conditions across years, it appears that spring flow and temperature may be important determinants of egg survival to larval outmigration. Larval age data suggest that most individuals that survived to outmigration hatched during a 2‐day period despite adult spawning across at least 10 days. Most larvae spent <2 weeks in the stream and emigrated around the time of transition from endogenous to exogenous feeding before substantial growth occurred. In two of three cases, larvae drifted exclusively at night; however, high drift rates occurred during both day and night in the case where larvae were very abundant, suggesting density‐dependent drift behaviour. Our results indicate that survival in tributary streams from egg deposition to larval export is highly variable in longnose suckers. These large differences in early life survival may translate into variability in recruitment, thereby influencing population structure and dynamics.     

Effects of stocking density and algal concentration on the survival,growth and metamorphosis of Bobu Ivory shell,Babylonia formosae habei (Neogastropoda: Buccinidae) larvae

Independent and combined effects of stocking density and algal concentration on the survival, growth and metamorphosis of the Bobu Ivory shell Babylonia formosae habei larvae were assessed using a 5 × 5 factorial design with densities of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.00 and 1.50 larvae mL⁻¹ and algal concentrations of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 × 10⁴ cells mL⁻¹ in the laboratory. Larval growth, survival and metamorphosis were significantly affected by both the independent effects of stocking density and algal concentration and by their interaction. The highest per cent survival (72.5%) and metamorphosis (49.5%), fastest growth (41.57 μm day⁻¹) and shortest time to initial metamorphosis (10 days) all occurred at the lowest stocking density and the highest algal concentration. Both crowding and food limitation had independently negative impacts on the survival, growth and metamorphosis of larvae, and these negative impacts were further strengthened by the interaction of a higher stocking density and a lower algal concentration. Moreover, the results suggest that stocking density and algal concentration obviously played different roles in determining larval survival and growth. To maximize survival and growth, B. formosae habei larvae should be reared at a lower stoking density of 0.25 larvae mL⁻¹ and fed a higher algal concentration of 25 × 10⁴ cells mL⁻¹ in large-scale hatchery seed culture.     

北部湾浮游幼虫群落结构及其环境适应性分析

根据1998年2月至1999年5月在北部湾海域按季度进行的4个航次生态、环境综合调查资料,本文研究了北部湾海域浮游幼虫的主要类群及其季节变动。结果表明:北部湾海域浮游幼虫主要有15大类群;其中4类(长尾类幼虫、短尾类幼虫、口足类阿利玛幼虫、蛇尾类长腕幼虫)周年出现,其它为季节性出现。长尾类幼虫、口足类阿利玛幼虫、蛇尾类长腕幼虫、短尾类溞状幼虫、短尾类大眼幼虫及其它短尾类幼虫为优势类群。北部湾浮游幼虫的年丰度变化范围为0.02~7.65ind/m³,均值为0.50ind/m³,四季的丰度为夏季(0.86ind/m³)>春季(0.40ind/m³)>秋季(0.32ind/m³)>冬季(0.12ind/m³)。从春季到冬季整个浮游幼虫密集中心呈逆时针从湾的东北部向西北部海区移动,移至湾的中部后再返至西北部。K优势度曲线分析表明群落多样性由高到低依次为春季>冬季>夏季>秋季,总体上浮游幼虫群落多样性的季节差异不大。典范对应分析结果表明影响浮游幼虫栖息密度的主要因子是水温和pH,其次是盐度、溶解氧。     

应用计算机和气象资料预测粗纹食道口线虫（Oesophagostomum asperum）数量季节消长的研究

根据土源性寄生线虫体外发育期间受温度、湿度、季节和宿主动物影响的原理，采用电子计算机对上述四因子和食道口线虫从卵发育到侵袭性幼虫速度、数量进行回归分析，制定出模拟模型，设计出了在牧地上该种线虫从卵发育到侵袭性幼虫数量预测预报公式，用该公式和气象资料计算出的侵袭性幼虫季节消长曲线，与牧地上宿主羊体内成虫数量消长曲线相一致，初步显示可以采用气象资料和计算机预测牧地上粗纹食道口线虫侵袭性幼虫量的季节动态，从而为防治措施的制定提供依据。