Abstract
Insect production has attracted a lot of scientific and business interest during the last decade. Insects are a well-promising nutrient source for food and feed, whereas they have a great exploitation potential in industrial and technological applications, e.g., cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, or bioplastics. As in most traditional livestock production systems, the optimization of insect production is calling for diets of high nutritional value to generate large quantities of nutritious insect biomass. Therefore, several studies have focused on the supplementation of insect diets with feed additives in order to increase larval growth and performance. In this context, several mineral elements, amino acids, vitamins, or probiotics have been evaluated as feeding substrate supplements to improve the diet properties and correct nutrient deficiencies and subsequently enhance insect development, in terms of total insect biomass production, growth rate, feed conversion efficiency, or even insect health. Apart from affecting the growth and development, insect diet greatly impacts also the nutritional composition of the insects produced, thus a considerable amount of research has been directed to the evaluation of the diet effect on insect composition. Several recent studies have focused on how the dietary enrichment with specific feed additives can alter the composition of the insects, conferring specific nutritional traits to the insects produced. For instance, the enrichment of insect feeding substrate with small amounts of specific lipids, carbohydrates, or other micronutrients has resulted in the production of insects with functional properties and desired characteristics, e.g., improved amino acid and fatty acid profile or increased content of specific nutrients. Based on the above, the aim of this chapter is to review the use of feed additives in insect production in order to promote insect growth and attribute specific nutritional properties to the produced insects.
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Rumbos, C.I., Athanassiou, C.G. (2023). Feed Additives for Insect Production. In: Arsenos, G., Giannenas, I. (eds) Sustainable Use of Feed Additives in Livestock. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42855-5_27
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