Olfactory response and food preference of Gromphadorhina portentosa (Blattodea: blaberidae) to agro-industrial waste for biomass production

The Madagascar cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) is a species widely used in insect farming, including in animal and human diets. Because of these potential applications, we are looking for effective ways to breed them in captivity, through alternatives that reduce production costs. One solution to this problem would be to use agro-industrial waste to feed these insects. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the olfactory behavior of the Madagascar cockroach when exposed to different agro-industrial residues. The experiments were conducted at the Entomoculture Laboratory of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) using agro-industrial waste from sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum spp.), forage palm (Opuntia ficus), moringa (Moringa oleifera L.), and wheat bran (Triticum vulgare). The waste was distributed randomly in the evaluation arena. There were 20 repetitions of both sexes with an evaluation period of 20 min each. The bioassays were carried out in sequence: response time of the cockroaches, first olfactory choice, and food preference. Males and females had the highest average consumption in the 20-min evaluation period, and the first olfactory choice was for moringa; however, food preference was concentrated on wheat bran, where females had an average consumption of 1.3g of wheat bran and males 0.85g. Therefore, using wheat bran could make large-scale production of Madagascar cockroaches feasible and potentially make it possible to reuse and sustainably use this waste.