The Research On Rumex Acetosa L. As The Feed Of Tenebrio Molitor L.

Tenebrio molitor L.（also known as mealworms） belongs to order of Coleoptera andfamily of Tenebrionidae, worldwidely distributed and native to South America. It wasintroduced into China in the1950s from the former Soviet Union.The value of Tenebriomolitor L. as a resource has been increasingly explored and valued by society for its strongvitality, easy breeding, and richness of protein, fat and carbohydrate, particularly for its crudeprotein content which could reach54.25%, crude fat content which could reach28.90%.Rumex acetosa L.（also known as garden orache）, a member of polygonaceae and genusof rumex, is a perennial herb. It is the traits as stronger tolerance to drought, waterloggingand saline-alkaline, faster growth, higher yield and longer years of use, abundantnourishments, especially the crude protein content up to35.78%that makes Rumex acetosa L.of a higher feeding value, but the use of Rumex acetosa L as the feed of Tenebrio molitor L.’sfeed has not been reported.It is the main purpose of the paper that to explore the feasibility of replacing the wheatbran with Rumex acetosa L so as to provide the theory basis for reducing production costsand expanding the source of Tenebrio molitor L.’s feed by studying the effect of using Rumexacetosa L.as a feed to the growth of the larvae of Tenebrio molitor L and discussing of costsand profit of the product. The results are as following:1. The definition of Tenebrio molitor’s instars larvae.Under the conditions of25℃, instar of the Tenebrio molitor L. is15instars.2. The insects screening experiment for the best Rumex acetosa L. formula shows thatthe11-instars larva of Rumex acetosa L.is fast growing with the largest food intake and canbe selected as the tested insects.3. By comparison of the effect of the feeds sample of different Rumex acetosaproportion to Tenebrio molitor L, it is found that the sample,which consists of60%Rumexacetosa L.,40%wheat bran makes the largest polypide increment rate,highest efficiency offeed utilization, feed conversion rate, whereas the lowest fatality rate.Therefore and isselected as the best Rumex acetosa L. formula.4. By comparing related production indicators of the selected Rumex acetosa L. formulaand that of the cabbage which is used in actual production. A conclusion is drawn asfollowing. During the9instars, there are no distinct difference in polypide incrementrate（F₁,4=0.141,p=0.7265） efficiency of feed utilization（F₁,4=3.699, p=0.128）, feedconversion rate（F₁,4=0.135, p=0.7318）, however, cabbage is superior during Other14instarsin those above mentioned aspects.5. A comparison of biochemical index and intestinal microfloral in broilers indicate thatthe protein content of the dry matter of Tenebrio molitor L. larva which is feed with cabbageand Rumex acetosa L. is correspondingly56.58%and61.60%; The fat content of thetenebrio molitor L. feed with cabbage was28.20%and with Rumex acetosa L. is21.30%.The total sugar content of the former was0.19%and the later was0.23%. The ash content ofThe Tenebrio molitor L. feed with cabbage was3.50%and with Rumex acetosa L. was2.87%.Proteins in two kinds of larvae feeding feed contain17kinds of amino acids, whichturns out to be relatively complete. The ration of essential amino acids and total amino acids（EAA/TAA）, is higher than the standard indicator–40%; the ratio of essential amino acidsand non-essential amino acid ratio （EAA/NEAA） is higher than standard indicator–60%.From the intestinal tract of cabbage feeding larvae, seven strains were purified,belonging to genus Propionibacterium, Citrobacter, B.megaterium, Serratia, Mycobacterium,B. sphaericus and Clavibacter; and from the intestinal tract of sorrel feeding larvae, eightstrains were purified, including the seven kinds mentioned above and one more—Listeria.There is no obvious difference in larvae biochemical indicators of these two kinds offeed, sorrel feeding ones having one more kind of intestinal bacteria.6. Through cost accounting, the use of sorrel feeding yellow mealworms can help reducethe cost of every1kg production of commodity mealworms by2.34yuan compared tocabbage feeding ones, reduced by14.1%.In summary, there is no substantial difference in quality between sorrel feeding yellowmealworms and cabbage feeding ones. Besides, the feeding cost has reduced by14.1%.Therefore, in theory, it is feasible to use sorrel as molitor feed.