• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.55-59
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• 2023

One of the necessary conditions for the mass production of the edible insect, the white-spotted flower chafer Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis (Kolbe), is to breed a strain with excellent egg-laying ability. To identify external morphological traits related to egg-laying ability, we investigated the effects of the weight, length, and width of female adults on egg production. Correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed a positive correlation between the weight of female adults and egg production. This study suggests that selection of heavier females is a good strategy for breeding strains with superior egg-laying characteristics. The results of this study will serve as important foundational data for future breeding of superior strains.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2016

One major constraint in the development and implementation of a successful and cost-effective area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme with a SIT component for Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the ability to produce a large number of high quality mass-reared individuals. The aim of this study was to develop a more efficient and practical egg collection system in an attempt to improve the mass-rearing of this species. The following basic parameters were examined: egg production per female, egg hatch, pupal recovery, pupal weight, adult emergence and percentage of fliers. Three different strains (Israel wild-type, France wild-type, and Greece laboratory) were tested and each strain was evaluated for six generations. Female flies of the Israel strain produced significantly more eggs per female than the other two strains, but egg hatch was significantly lower. Egg hatch of the France wild type and the Greece laboratory strain was similar. For all other parameters, there was no significant difference between strains; however, there was a significant generational effect for all parameters observed. As a result of this study, a protocol was developed for the mass-rearing of this species that included the use of large adult holding cages that could house up to 96,000 flies per cage. The newly developed method of egg collection using a flat wax panel as one of the sides of an adult holding cage proved to be cost-effective, efficient, making colony growth easier for industrial mass-rearing.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2023

The Daehwangjam has excellent marketability and quality. However, precise silkworm breeding data on the recent high-temperature environment is not enough collected, and it is necessary to check whether stable Daewhangjam silkworm egg production was possible in poor environments. In this study, the timing of metamorphosis of the Daewhangjam parents Jam323 and Jam324 silkworms, in an optimal condition and a general condition similar to breeding grounds, was investigated to confirm that appropriate mating was achieved. Surprisingly, a number of female moths were discarded due to the metamorphosis of Jam324 female moths much earlier than Jam323 male moths in either an optimal or a general condition. To improve this, during the Jam324 female pupation period, the mild low-temperature of 15℃ was treated for the pupation period to delay the metamorphosis into female moths. Depending on the treatment period, the metamorphosis of the female pupa was delayed by more than 4 days, allowing normal mating with the Jam323 male moth. The eye pigments in a pupa also slowly accumulated in these treatments. In order to discover the side effects of low-temperature treatments, the voltinism of the Daewhangjam eggs was investigated, but most of them remained univoltine. Taken together, the low-temperature treatment during the female pupation period made it possible to use Jam324 female moths that were should be discarded, which means that stable and efficient management of Daewhangjam egg production is possible.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.92-95
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• 2016

The black soldier fly is economically important because its prepupae are used as feed for many animals, including fish and swine. In Korea, black-soldier-fly farms have attempted to increase annual breeding and mass egg production for use in animal feed, as well as the decomposition of organic waste. Such efforts require an understanding of optimal mating and oviposition techniques. Specifically, adult densities and cage size may both improve the efficiency of mass egg production. Our study used four sizes of nylon cages ($1.0{\times}1.0{\times}2.5m$, $1.5{\times}1.5{\times}2.5m$, $2.0{\times}2.0{\times}2.5m$, $2.5{\times}2.5{\times}2.5m$) and three density treatments (4 kg, 8 kg, and 10 kg of pupae) to investigate optimal habitat size and adult density. We found that cage size (independent of density) did not significantly influence female fecundity (number of egg clutches and egg weight), whereas higher densities increased egg number and weight regardless of cage size. Thus, we recommend manipulating adult density to enhance productivity in commercial black-soldier-fly farming. However, we also propose further detailed research to develop methods that account for seasonal changes and environmental conditions, as climatic variables (temperature, sunlight) likely influence female fecundity as well.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 2020

In 2016, the two-spotted cricket was approved as a general food ingredient by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Additionally, the two-spotted crickets have high protein content (60%) and can be reared throughout the year even during the overwintering period. In this study, storage conditions were set in case cricket breeding was not possible due to problems such as breeding space and labor costs, and selection oviposition mats to determine high fecundity rates and low cannibalism rates for the eggs were investigated. The oviposition mat was mostly composed of soil (p < 0.05). Less than 62 crickets per 10 litters were found to be best suited for 1 day of spawning, based on the cannibalism rate of the eggs during the egg laying period. The results from the hatched eggs indicated that the hatching extended 12 to 14 days, and the best hatching rate was approximately 85% when stored at low temperatures(16℃) for 10 days. An efficient production proposed method that established the best oviposition mat and egg storage method for the cricket.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.198-206
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• 2014

The olive fly Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) is the key pest for olive cultivation worldwide. Substantial effort has been invested in the development of the sterile insect technique (SIT) to control this pest. One of the limitations to develop SIT technology for olive fruit fly is the low ability of wild females to lay eggs in other medium than olive fruits, and their slow adaptation to oviposition in artificial substrates. In the present study, fruit grapes were used as an alternative egg collection medium to harvest eggs and young larvae from freshly colonized wild strains originating from France, Italy, Spain and Croatia. The larvae were allowed to develop into the fruits until the second instar, before they were extracted out and further reared on a standard artificial diet. Furthermore, F1 to F4 female flies were alternatively offered wax bottles to oviposit. Finally, the performance of hybrid strains created from crosses between wild and long colonised flies was assessed. The results showed that females of all 4 wild strains readily oviposited eggs in grapes and from the F2 generation onward, females from all strains were adapted to laying eggs in wax bottles. No difference was observed in eggs and pupae production among all strains tested. The findings are discussed for their implications on SIT application against olive fruit fly.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2019

The super mealworm, Zophobas morio, is mainly used as food for pets, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and as snacks. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of temperature, supplementary feeding, and spawning interval on super mealworm rearing. To efficiently rear this species, the insects were bred at a temperature of $27^{\circ}C$ or higher and reached a weight of over 0.6 g at 80 days after hatching. Supplementary feed (with high protein content: 10% of soybean meal and 10% of fish meal) enabled larvae to reach a weight of over 0.7 g at 80 days after hatching. Mass rearing of super mealworm requires increase in egg production (i.e., high yield) and uniformity of larvae. Adults were transferred to spawning bases every 5, 10, or 15 days (three treatments), which resulted in a total of 7,256, 5,439, 2,060 hatched larvae, respectively. It is possible to obtain more than 7,000 larvae by transferring the egg-laying frame to the spawning base at intervals of 5 days and with nine spawning operations; this procedure generates larvae weighing over 0.68 g each.

• Entomological Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.331-338
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• 2018

Spotted wing drosophila (SWD) has emerged as a major invasive insect pest of small berry fruits in the Americas and Europe since the late 2000s. Thus, phytosanitary treatment of commodities for export is imperative to prevent the movement of viable SWD to newer areas. In the present study, all developmental stages of SWD were irradiated with different doses of gamma and electron beam radiation to assess developmental inhibition to identify potential quarantine doses of the radiations. Ionizing radiation induced developmental inhibition of all stages of SWD. The effective doses for 99% inhibition ($ED_{99}$) of hatching, pupariation, and adult emergence from irradiated eggs for gamma radiation were 882, 395 and 39 Gy, respectively, compared with 2849, 687, and 41 Gy, respectively, for electron beam radiation. The $ED_{99}$ for inhibition of pupariation and adult emergence in irradiated larvae were 703 and 47 Gy, respectively, for gamma radiation, and 619 and 33 Gy, respectively, for electron beam radiation. Pupal irradiation did not completely inhibit adult emergence, even at 300 Gy. However, irradiation with ${\geq}100Gy$ of puparia induced adult sterility, with no egg production at all. The $ED_{99}$ for inhibition of $F_1$ egg hatchability from adults irradiated with gamma radiation and electron beam radiation was estimated to be 424 and 125 Gy, respectively. The results of the present study suggest that gamma radiation and electron beam radiation are alternatives for phytosanitary treatment. Irradiation with 100 Gy could be suggested as a potential dose for egg, larval, and pupal quarantine treatment of SWD.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.188-202
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• 2022

In the insect industry, as the scope of application of insects is expanded from pet insects and natural enemies to feed, edible and medicinal insects, the demand for quality control of insect raw materials is increasing, and interest in securing the safety of insect products is increasing. In the process of expanding the industrial scale, controlling the temperature and humidity and air quality in the insect breeding room and preventing the spread of pathogens and other pollutants are important success factors. It requires a controlled environment under the operating system. European commercial insect breeding facilities have attracted considerable investor interest, and insect companies are building large-scale production facilities, which became possible after the EU approved the use of insect protein as feedstock for fish farming in July 2017. Other fields, such as food and medicine, have also accelerated the application of cutting-edge technology. In the future, the global insect industry will purchase eggs or small larvae from suppliers and a system that focuses on the larval fattening, i.e., production raw material, until the insects mature, and a system that handles the entire production process from egg laying, harvesting, and initial pre-treatment of larvae., increasingly subdivided into large-scale production systems that cover all stages of insect larvae production and further processing steps such as milling, fat removal and protein or fat fractionation. In Korea, research and development of insect smart factory farms using artificial intelligence and ICT is accelerating, so insects can be used as carbon-free materials in secondary industries such as natural plastics or natural molding materials as well as existing feed and food. A Korean-style customized breeding system for shortening the breeding period or enhancing functionality is expected to be developed soon.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.249-254
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• 2022

Silkworms, which have for long been used as an insect resource for industrialization, have recently attracted attention as potential bio-factories for the production of novel biomaterials. In this regard, material production is typically achieved based on transformation technology, mediated via microinjection, in which a target gene is inserted into eggs containing an embryo. However, an essential step in the microinjection procedure is egg fixation, which can be a time-consuming and laborious task. Therefore, in this study, using the 3DCADian program, we adopted a 3D printing approach to model egg liners and glue drawers, which can contribute to facilitating egg alignment and fixation, thereby enhancing transformation efficiency by reducing time consumption and fatigue. After rendering using Fusion 360, the two supplementary tools were produced by printing with nylon resin (PA12) and Sinterit Lisa Pro. Subsequent analysis of the time required to fix eggs on glass slides using the two manufactured tools, revealed that the processing time was reduced by approximately 18.6% when the two tools were used compared with when these tools were not used. These innovations not only reduced fatigue but also contributed to more effective use of the microscope and manipulator for microinjection. Consequently, we believe that with additional research and refinement, the egg liner and glue drawer developed in this study could be used to enhance silkworm transformation efficiency and study similar transformation systems in other industrial insects.