Impact and Persistence of Serratia marcescens in Tenebrio molitor Larvae and Feed under Optimal and Stressed Mass Rearing Conditions

Insects

Christina Nielsen-LeRoux¹  Agnès Rejasse¹  Thomas Lefebvre²  Florent Dupriez²  Alfredo Rios² 

[1] Micalis Institute, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France;Ynsect, 1 Rue Pierre Fontaine, 91000 Evry, France;

关键词: food safety;    yellow mealworm;    Serratia marcescens;    microbial persistence;    qPCR;    insect for food and feed;   

DOI  :  10.3390/insects13050458

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Industrial insect mass rearing aims to produce quality insects under safe sanitary conditions which can be compromised by pathogens and abiotic stressors. Therefore, knowledge on pathogen persistence, virulence and means of detection is of importance. This study focuses on the opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens (Sm) as a possible candidate to reveal sanitary issues in Tenebrio molitor (Tm) breeding. A screening test was performed to assess the impact of abiotic stressors (starvation, density and sieving) in presence and absence of Sm. Two Sm detection methods were conducted, and the kinetics of Sm persistence were investigated. Our results show that (i) the presence of Sm had a low but significant effect on Tm mortality, (ii) a short temporary starvation period had a negative impact on larval growth, (iii) the detection of Sm by q-PCR was sensitive but less convenient than a specific Sm growth media, (iv) the kinetics of persistence showed that Sm declined but survived for nine days in the feed and in the feces for three weeks. Both the relatively low virulence and the persistence in the environment suggest that Sm could be used as an indicator for the sanitary status of mealworm production.

【 授权许可】

Unknown