Gryllidae Per Kcal
Established Member
I've been re reading some gut loading studies and would like to talk about the significant decrease of the calcium to phosphorus ratio in crickets fed papaya that's blended with calcium carbonate.
"There was a significant decrease in the Ca to phosphorus ratio from day zero (baseline) to day two in the calcium carbonate, papaya and sweet potato treatments, however, by day four there was not a significant difference in the sweet potato treatment Ca to phosphorus ratio." ( Amy S. Hunt et al.)
The authors suspect that the water content in the produce interfered with the crickets' ability to consume the calcium on a dry matter basis.
"The desired 1:1 Ca to phosphorus ratio was not achieved in this study. It is likely that this occurred because of the high water content of the diets. A typical gut loading diet has a dry matter content of approximately 90% whereas the fruit and vegetable diets used in this study had dry matters varying between 13% and 21%. There was, however, no decrease in intake over time and therefore the diets were most likely palatable. It is likely that the crickets' guts became full with water and, though the diets were formulated for approximately eight percent calcium on a dry matter basis, the crickets never consumed enough dry matter to achieve the high calcium levels." (Amy S. Hunt et al.)
https://nagonline.net/1751/effect-p...amin-content-adult-crickets-acheta-domestica/
Perhaps powdered produce would allow feeder insects to consume the amount of calcium that we want better.
What are your thoughts on this?
"There was a significant decrease in the Ca to phosphorus ratio from day zero (baseline) to day two in the calcium carbonate, papaya and sweet potato treatments, however, by day four there was not a significant difference in the sweet potato treatment Ca to phosphorus ratio." ( Amy S. Hunt et al.)
The authors suspect that the water content in the produce interfered with the crickets' ability to consume the calcium on a dry matter basis.
"The desired 1:1 Ca to phosphorus ratio was not achieved in this study. It is likely that this occurred because of the high water content of the diets. A typical gut loading diet has a dry matter content of approximately 90% whereas the fruit and vegetable diets used in this study had dry matters varying between 13% and 21%. There was, however, no decrease in intake over time and therefore the diets were most likely palatable. It is likely that the crickets' guts became full with water and, though the diets were formulated for approximately eight percent calcium on a dry matter basis, the crickets never consumed enough dry matter to achieve the high calcium levels." (Amy S. Hunt et al.)
https://nagonline.net/1751/effect-p...amin-content-adult-crickets-acheta-domestica/
Perhaps powdered produce would allow feeder insects to consume the amount of calcium that we want better.
What are your thoughts on this?
