Powdered Produce possibly a better gut load than fresh produce?

Gryllidae Per Kcal

Established Member
I've been re reading some gut loading studies and would like to talk about the significant decrease of the calcium to phosphorus ratio in crickets fed papaya that's blended with calcium carbonate.
"There was a significant decrease in the Ca to phosphorus ratio from day zero (baseline) to day two in the calcium carbonate, papaya and sweet potato treatments, however, by day four there was not a significant difference in the sweet potato treatment Ca to phosphorus ratio." ( Amy S. Hunt et al.)

The authors suspect that the water content in the produce interfered with the crickets' ability to consume the calcium on a dry matter basis.

"The desired 1:1 Ca to phosphorus ratio was not achieved in this study. It is likely that this occurred because of the high water content of the diets. A typical gut loading diet has a dry matter content of approximately 90% whereas the fruit and vegetable diets used in this study had dry matters varying between 13% and 21%. There was, however, no decrease in intake over time and therefore the diets were most likely palatable. It is likely that the crickets' guts became full with water and, though the diets were formulated for approximately eight percent calcium on a dry matter basis, the crickets never consumed enough dry matter to achieve the high calcium levels." (Amy S. Hunt et al.)

https://nagonline.net/1751/effect-p...amin-content-adult-crickets-acheta-domestica/

Perhaps powdered produce would allow feeder insects to consume the amount of calcium that we want better.
What are your thoughts on this?
 
My understanding is that crickets in general have a calcium phosphorus ratio of .33:1 or 3 times as much phosphorus as calcium in their bodies when analysed by dry weight. It seems that most folks have abandoned the idea of feeding them out of this ratio and rather add calcium into the diet as powdered supplement to fix the poor ratio that way. I know some things are manufactured with the hope of feeding more calcium into the crickets.

Papaya is an interesting choice for the study. It has an unusual enzyme in it that can be a mild G.I. irritant.

Even if you feed a dried powdered diet for the crickets to survive they will need a water source.
 
My understanding is that crickets in general have a calcium phosphorus ratio of .33:1 or 3 times as much phosphorus as calcium in their bodies when analysed by dry weight. It seems that most folks have abandoned the idea of feeding them out of this ratio and rather add calcium into the diet as powdered supplement to fix the poor ratio that way. I know some things are manufactured with the hope of feeding more calcium into the crickets.

Papaya is an interesting choice for the study. It has an unusual enzyme in it that can be a mild G.I. irritant.

Even if you feed a dried powdered diet for the crickets to survive they will need a water source.
Do you think this enzyme could be what caused the calcium to phosphorus ratio to decrease despite papaya having a high calcium to phosphorus ratio?

I'm currently a believer in creating healthy feeders through fresh produce then using gut load to increase their calcium to phosphorus ratio 1:1 for their last 2 days before being dusted with supplement and fed off to my reptile. ( until science proves otherwise)
 
There are a number of factors involved in calcium absorption in the G.I. system. I don't know for a fact that enzymes in papaya block absorption but I do find it a curious choice for the study. High amounts of calcium slow digestion via gut motility and can block absorption of other vitamins and minerals.
 
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