An Investigation of the Effects of Gamma Irradiation of Egg Cells on Macro and Micro Nutrients Composition of the Edible Larval Stage of Cirina forda Westwood (Lepidoptera: Saturnidae) | Chapter 14 | Research Aspects in Biological Science Vol. 2

 The need to diversify human diets with cost-effective macro- and micronutrient enrichment has become a global concern. Entomophagy has been touted as a prospective source of these nutrients for this purpose, but it must be founded on improving the nutritional content of the insect candidates, which was the subject of this study. To achieve this, newly born Cirina forda eggs were exposed to several doses of Gamma irradiation (0, 10, 20, and 50 Gy) before being developed to the edible larval stage on the leaves of the Vitellaria paradoxa plant. Using established biochemical procedures, the irradiated C. forda larvae were submitted to proximate, mineral, and micronutrient investigations. The results of proximate analysis revealed that egg exposure to Gamma irradiation increased dry matter and carbohydrate contents significantly (P0.05) at doses of 20Gy and 50Gy, respectively (41.430.01 and 21.500.14%, respectively). The amount of crude protein, crude fibre, and ash decreased slightly in the C. forda larvae, with exposure to increasing doses of gamma irradiation (from 54.820.12 to 50.32 According to the mineral analysis, while the amounts of Ca and Mn reached significant peaks in larvae whose eggs were exposed to irradiation doses of 50 Gy and 10 Gy (36.030.01 and 8.270.01 percent, respectively), gamma irradiation significantly reduced the concentrations of Mg, K, and Fe in the insects. The micronutrients leucine, arginine, and phenylalanine had the highest concentrations of 7.200.01, 6.860.01, and 5.410.01%, respectively, and were not significantly affected by gamma irradiation (p0.05). These data suggest that gamma irradiation has the potential to boost specific nutrition content in C. forda and may have a mitigating impact on anti-feedants prevalent in the insect species, both of which need to be investigated further.

Author(S) Details

M. O. Odeyemi
Department of Animal Biology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, P.M.B. 65, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

I. K. Olayemi
Department of Animal Biology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, P.M.B. 65, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

A. C. Ukubuiwe
Department of Animal Biology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, P.M.B. 65, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

A. C. Ukubuiwe
Department of Animal Biology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, P.M.B. 65, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

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