CA 22140: Insect-IMP

Improved Knowledge Transfer for Sustainable Insect Breeding

General info

• Insect farming is now recognised as an important contributor to sustainable food production
• Genetic Improvement is a very basic level
• Little communication across species and sectors

• Chair: Dr. Gertje Petersen (Germany)
• Vice-chair: Dr. Jana Obšteter (Slovenia)
• Science Communication Officer: Georgia Baliota (Greece)
• Grant Awarding Officer: Alexandre Trindade (Portugal)
• Grant Holder: Agricultural Institute of Slovenia
• Action period: 2024 - 2027

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Aims and objectives

• Insect farming is now recognised as an important contributor to sustainable food production
• Genetic Improvement is a very basic level
• Little communication across species and sectors

• AIM: knowledge transfer for improved insect breeding
• Across species – including non-insect species
• Ensure that academic research finds application and is informed by industry needs
• Connect stakeholders across different geographies and legislations (i.e. EU and Third Countries)
• Connect innovators with industry

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Plan for Year 1

• Insect farming is now recognised as an important contributor to sustainable food production
• Genetic Improvement is a very basic level
• Little communication across species and sectors

• start: 1st November 2023
• budget: 125,000€
• Planned activities:
• Online meetings for all WGs
• In-person meetings for 3 WGs (Germany, Slovenia, Serbia)
• Industry workshop at Insecta (Potsdam, Germany)
• Management Committee meeting at EAAP (Florence, Italy)
• Thematic Action Workshop at EAAP (Florence, Italy)
• Grants for dissemination at conferences

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Working groups

• Insect farming is now recognised as an important contributor to sustainable food production
• Genetic Improvement is a very basic level
• Little communication across species and sectors

• WG1: Population structure and genetic diversity (Christoph Sandrock)
• WG2: Mating control (Olga Ameixa)
• WG3: GxExCommunity (Gertje Petersen)
• WG4: Breeding objectives (David Deruytter)
• WG5: Phenotyping systems (Esther Ellen)
• WG6: Estimation of breeding values (Sreten Andonov)
• WG7: Dissemination (Jana Obšteter)
• WG8: Inclusion and Representation (Mert Kükrer)

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WG1: Population structure

• Poorly understood population structure
• Insects are seldom “picked”-, fit- or bred-for-purpose
• No information on the effect of “domestication” or cultivation
• ROLE
• Coordinate genotyping efforts
• Consolidate work on population structure and effect of domestication

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WG2: Mating control

• Solutions have been developed for honeybees to assess relatedness and ensure genetic gain
• Problems with identification + multiple mating / polyandrous mating
• ROLE
• Collect and compare information on mating behaviour
• Compare solutions for mating control
• Transfer knowledge from honeybees to other insects (Workshop)
• Prepare recommendations

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WG3: GxExC

• Insects farmed and bred in controlled environments or in an entirely open environment → affect on performance?
• ROLE
• Identify most influential environmental factors
• Explore interactive phenotypes
• Harmonise terminology
• Understand the effect of community interactions on performance
• Develop improved genetic evaluation models

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WG4: Breeding objectives

• Breeding goal essential for long term genetic improvement
• Not all economically important traits identified and evaluated
• ROLE
• Identify economically important traits
• Define economic value according to industry and market needs
• Explore genetic architecture of the traits
• Develop recommendations and organise workshop

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WG5: Phenotyping

• Challenging due to size, fragility and life span
• Difficult to tag and identify individuals
• ROLE
• Revise practices and solutions for phenotyping across species → transferability?
• Exploit models for genetic evaluation
• Develop general fitness indicators for monitoring
• Develop and harmonise protocols
• Coordinate efforts between innovators and industry

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WG6: Estimation of BVs

• Specificities in data collection, mating, biology, breeding programs design
• ROLE
• Assess performance of existing models
• Compare models across species
• Develop improved models
• Coordinate future simulation/real-data experiments and integration of genomics

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WG7: Dissemination

ROLE

• Careful communication with industry
• Communicating results of the Action
• Engage with policy makers to support educated decisions

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ROLE

• Ensure gender, geographic and generational diversity
• Ensure inclusion of young researchers and students for training
• Ensure representation with ITC countries
• Ensure effective communication across potential language barriers
• Close gaps of missing target species

WG8: Inclusion & Representation

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Deliverables

• All working groups
• one thematic Workshop (in concurrence with an established conference)
• at least one WG-specific Workshop (in-person or hybrid)
• contribution to at least one industry Workshop.
• Recommendations for genetic diversity management in farmed insects (WG1)
• Review paper on population structure and domestication effects (WG1)
• Written report + video from Training School on Mating Behaviour (WG2)
• Report on modelling environmental effects in insect breeding (WG3)
• Review paper on interplay of genetics, environment, and community (WG3)
• Report on traits for selection in farmed insect and their economic value (WG4)
• Workshop materials on developing breeding objectives (WG4)
• Recommendations and best-practice for phenotyping (WG5)
• Technical paper on estimation of breeding values in insect species (WG6)
• Training School materials on genetic evaluation in insect breeding (WG6)

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Deliverables

• Thematic workshops (in concurrence with EAAP or similar conference)
• Working Group workshops, industry workshops
• Establish Social Media and other communication channels and Action Website
• Reports on one Working Group meeting per year
• Review Papers (Population structure + domestication, interplay of GxExC)
• Reports (environmental effect modelling, economic traits for insect breeding)
• Recommendations and best-practice guidelines for phenotyping and genetic diversity management
• Technical paper on estimation of breeding values in insect species
• Training school materials and reports (Mating Behaviours, developing Breeding Objectives, Genetic Evaluation)

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