Grant: Alliance Grants
Carleton University
$76,486.00
Leveraging thermal biology to optimise cricket rearing
EF 2024-25
Résumé
House crickets are a promising sustainable source of protein for human food and animal feed in a changing world. A current focus is to scale up and automate cricket production, and to optimise production for specific outcomes (e.g. maximise biomass production or protein content). Insect growth rate, nutrient content and survival are all dependent on temperature, so this project will explore these relationships, allowing Aspire Food Group to optimise their rearing environment for specific outcomes, and react flexibly to temperature variations during production. The interns will learn insect rearing in industrial and laboratory settings, a range of physiological, biochemical, and molecular biology skills relevant throughout the biotech and agricultural sectors, as well as critical thinking and communication.
Programme
Alliance Grants
Bénéficiaire
Emplacement
Ontario, Canada
Type de bénéficiaire
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
Tel que publié
Application id
572806-2022
Name nom
MacMillan, Heath HA
Department département
Biology
Organization id
23
Institution établissement
Carleton University
Province en
Ontario
Province fr
Ontario
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2024
Competition year année de concours
2022
Award amount
76486
Program id
ALLRP
Program name en
Alliance Grants
Program name fr
Subventions Alliance
Group en
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
Group fr
PARTENARIATS DE RECHERCHE
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
101
Area of application group en
Agriculture and primary food production
Area of application group fr
Agriculture et produits alimentaires primaires
Area of application en
Animal production and animal primary products
Area of application fr
Production animale et produits animaux primaires
Research subject code
5510
Research subject group en
Animal biology
Research subject group fr
Biologie animale
Research subject en
Animal production and breeding
Research subject fr
Production et reproduction animales
Field of research list names en
Not available
Field of research list names fr
Non disponible
Socioeconomic objective list names en
Not available
Socioeconomic objective list names fr
Non disponible
Application title
Leveraging thermal biology to optimise cricket rearing
Keywords
dynamic energy budget; entomophagy; heat shock; insect farming; insect mass production; insect physiology; insect protein production; thermal biology
Application summary
House crickets are a promising sustainable source of protein for human food and animal feed in a changing world. A current focus is to scale up and automate cricket production, and to optimise production for specific outcomes (e.g. maximise biomass production or protein content). Insect growth rate, nutrient content and survival are all dependent on temperature, so this project will explore these relationships, allowing Aspire Food Group to optimise their rearing environment for specific outcomes, and react flexibly to temperature variations during production. The interns will learn insect rearing in industrial and laboratory settings, a range of physiological, biochemical, and molecular biology skills relevant throughout the biotech and agricultural sectors, as well as critical thinking and communication.
