Insects are gaining recognition as an alternative source of protein. Moreover, Protaetia brevitarsis was listed as a general food ingredient by Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. As a result, rearing insects has been growing in Korea and domestic farms have begun mass rearing of insects. In order to produce high quality insects, studies on the development of safe and nutritious feed sources are needed. Given the cost of rearing insects, agricultural and industrial by-products are good sources for feed. The efficient utilization of the by-product can help in reducing the cost of production and preventing environmental pollution. In this study, soybean milk residue was investigated for its effects on developmental characteristics of P. brevitarsis until larvae pupated. With three different kinds of feed on the larvae of beetles, the larvae with 10% of soybean milk residue showed the best result for the larval survival rate and growth rate of this beetle. In addition, the feed with 10% soybean milk residue had significantly shorter than control feed (only fermented oak sawdust). However, 20% of soybean milk residue decreased larval weight and extended larval development period. Therefore, we concluded that soybean milk residue were used as a nutritional feed source to promote larval growth and produce quality insects.

The purpose of this study was to determine the safe and effective method for preventing the occurrence of Oryctes rhinoceros Nudivirus in Allomyrina dichotoma on agricultural farms. There is a high demand for the use of A. dichotoma larvae in animal feed and as pet for educational purpose. Recently, we reported that OrNV is fatal virus diagnosed in A. dichotoma larvae in local farms in Korea. Mulberry leaves contain 1-deoxynojirimycin that represented anti-inflammatory, anti-virus, and anti-tumor effects. To prevent OrNV, we have fed the sawdust combined with 1% and 5% mulberry leaves powder to OrNV infected 2nd and 3rd stage larvae of A. dichotoma, and identified the mortality rate(%) during ten weeks. As a results, the 2nd stage larvae which were fed the sawdust combined with 5% mulberry leaves treatment recorded 60% mortality rate after ten weeks compared to the 100% mortality rate in the control. And the fatality rate of 3rd stage larvae which were fed 5% mulberry leaves treatment decreased 70% compared to the control. Therefore, application sawdust combined with mulberry leaves might be effective in the prevention and control of OrNV disease in A. dichotoma. Additionally, in the ten insect breading farms application test, OrNV virus disease have not appeared in the mulberry leaf powder treatment group.

Korean horn beetles, Allomyrina dichotoma (Linnaeus, 1771) reared in many local farms are suffering from a fatal viral disease as reported in 2015, and recent sequencing analysis revealed that the virus is very closely related to Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus. In a nationwide investigation, it was concluded that the virus can transmit vertically from an infected adult to the offspring by indirect manner, and 70 to 77% of young larvae dead in early stage were diagnosed as this virus positive. Here, we report for the establishment of on-site diagnosis method for the viral disease using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay. A. dichotoma larvae were assayed for the OrNV infectivity with LAMP primers targeting OrNV_gp102 gene. To evaluate the LAMP specificity, two bacterial pathogens, Bacillus thuringiensis and Serratia marcescens, causing disease in A. dichotoma were tested along with OrNV. Only from the OrNV-infected larvae the reaction resulted positive. Also, to avoid DNA extraction process, the LAMP assay used diluted hemolymph directly and 50-fold dilution was set for diagnosis standardization and convenient on-site application for infected larvae from local farms. The LAMP diagnosis is fast and convenient for nontechnical user in the field and expected to stop this foreign virus spread all over the country.

Allomyrina dichotoma (order Coleoptera, family Scarabaeidae) is used for development of pharmaceuticals, pet or educational purposes and animal feedstuffs. The disease occurrence and distribution of Oryctes rhinoceros Nudivirus were investigated in Allomyrina dichotoma in Korea using PCR and analyzed the DNA seqeunces using BLAST(Basic Local Alignment Search Tool). The virus infected larvae were collected from 10 insect rearing farms in five different regions (Gyounggi, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonnam, Daejeon). Frequency of OrNV virus infection appeared differently depending on the regions or rearing facilities (open field, vinyl house, indoor breeding system and etc.). The collected samples of Allomyrina dichotoma raised on open fields showed the highest possibilities of OrNV virus infection. The OrNV average infection rate of open fields rearing systems was 50.0%.

The Korean rhinoceros beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), has been traditionally used for the treatment of liverrelated diseases. Recently A. dichotoma was registered as a food ingredient in Korea. Given the increasing interest in this beetle, studies on the development of safe and nutritious feed sources for its commercial production are needed. In this study, we compared the effects of by-products on the growth of third instar larvae of A. dichotoma. An abundance of food by-products have been found to serve as an alternative energy source in animal feeds with the reduced cost. We fed third instar A. dichotoma larvae feeds consisting of fermented sawdust with nine different combinations of citrus peel, soybean curd cake, soybean oil meal, and brewers’ dried grain, and measured their effects on growth until the larvae pupated. The highest survival rate was in feed supplemented with 10% of brewers’ dried grain (66.7%). Especially, larvae fed on 10% of brewers’ dried grain were 26% heavier than the control (with no supplement). For the group of 10% brewers’ dried grain, the larval period of third instar was shortened by almost 28 days compared to the control group. Of the experimental and control groups, only the group of 10% brewers’ dried grain showed more than 90% of pupation rate. Therefore, brewers’ dried grain may be sufficiently useful as a source of feed for A. dichotoma.

Mass breeding of Protaetia brevitarsis seluensis results in the entomopathogenic fungal infection, usually Metarhizium anisoplaie. A mixture of microorganisms (Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) delayed fungal infection by M. anisopliae, which infected fewer P. b. seluensis when the microorganism mixture was added to sawdust as feed for P. b. seluensis for 30d, their mortality rate was approximately 35% less than that of the control group, which was fed sawdust without the EM. In addition, the growth of M. anisopliae on agar media spread with each bacterium as inhibited by up to 80%.

Insects have been proposed as an alternative protein source that may contribute to global demands for food protein. As rising interest in edible insects, it is needed to develop the rearing techniques and nutritious feed sources for mass production. Diet mixing is believed to be advantageous for performance-related factors of edible insects such as survival and growth. In the current study, the effects of diet mixtures with wheat bran, dog feed, and pig feed were investigated on the growth performance of edible chafers, Protaetia brevitarsis and Allomyrina dichotoma. When fermented sawdust with adding 30% wheat bran was fed, larval survival rate and growth rate of both insects were significantly lower than those of the control. Fermented sawdust with high density of wheat bran was inappropriate for these insects. On the other hand, when fed with 2.5% dog feed and 2.5% pig feed, the survival rate and growth rate of the larvae were higher than those of the control. In addition, the larval period of both was shorter than that of the control by 40 days or more. Therefore, it was considered that animal feeds can be used as feed sources for those edible insects.

In recent years, interest in edible insects has increased, and the number of farmers that breed insects in large quantities is increasing. As a result of mass breeding of insects, the damage from diseases and mites is also increasing. The chief aims of the investigation reached during some work are briefly stated. In this experiment, the kinds of mites and the environment of mites occurring in beneficial insects were investigated. The species with the highest frequency were Sanacassania sp., Tyrophagus sp., Canestriniidae and Gaeolaelaps sp.. Sanacassania sp. and Canestriniidae of them are reported as parasitic mites on beneficial insects.

The effect of an artificial diet on the developmental rate, a life history parameter, was examined for the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus. Artificial insect diets are an essential component of many insect rearing systems that produce insects for research purposes. Complex agar-gelled diets are generally prepared in large batches and used shortly after preparation because the degradation of perishable diet ingredients, such as vitamins and fatty acids, can adversely affect insect quality (Brewer F D 1984). However, the timing of diet preparation may be inconvenient and large batches wasteful if the unused, excess diet is discarded. This study showed that if the artificial diet was fed during the larval stage, the larval and pupal developmental periods, the percentage of pupation, and the pupal weight generally did not differ significantly among the five artificial diets evaluated. The percentage of pupation varied considerably, with no significant differences among diets except for diet C. A maximum pupation percentage of 83% was observed on diet C. Pellet-type diets were investigated with the aim of developing a more easily prepared diet. The extrusion of the artificial diet under high temperature and pressure may induce desirable chemical and physical changes in the extruded product. The purpose of the present study was to develop an artificial diet for rearing P. xuthus.