Sustainable and efficient insect production for livestock feed through selective breeding

This project aims to improve efficiency of insect production through genetic selection. This project will generate new knowledge of the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) genetics, genomics, and phenomics to inform the design of sustainable breeding programs in Kenya and Uganda. With the assembly of a multidisciplinary team of entomologists, geneticists, bioinformaticians, electronic and computer engineers, and nutritionists, the project will explore innovative BSF phenotyping and family identification systems and quantify the genetic parameters of BSF traits, followed by the design of breeding schemes. We aim to further these advances by pursuing a novel investigation on the applicability of image-based methods for BSF phenotyping and family identification under routine rearing conditions in Kenya and Uganda. In this project, we will use whole-genome sequencing data to study the genetic diversity of the BSF in Kenya and Uganda, thereby informing the design of breeding schemes that maintain this diversity.

Links:

https://qgg.au.dk/en/research/projects/current-projects/flygene