Project properties
Title <B><i>Insects chicken influencers<i/>
Group Entomology, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 36
Supervisor(s) Anna Doerper
Examiner(s) Prof. dr. Marcel Dicke
Contact info anna.doerper@wur.nl
Begin date 2023/02/01
End date 2023/11/01
Description Insects are one of the most abundant creatures living on earth, secretly influencing all our lives. While in the past insects have been rather perceived as pests, nowadays several species have been proposed to be multifunctional mini-livestock. One major property of insects is to convert low quality substrate into valuable body mass. Especially in the feed industry, the small protein/fat bombs could play a decisive role. Why is that so? The industry is urgently looking for new alternative sources which can replace unsustainable soybean and fish sources in livestock diets. Moreover, insects contain bioactive compounds such as lauric acid, chitin and antimicrobial peptides which provides the opportunity to boost the immune system of poultry. Furthermore, because insects are naturally part of poultry diets, they are assumed to have additional functional properties. For instance, insects are highly attractive for poultry, and might trigger them to perform natural behaviour such as foraging. The ability to show more natural behaviour indicates higher welfare. For instance, laying hens are known to perform feather pecking as misdirected pecking behaviour or stress release. Feeding insects might trigger them to be more actively looking for feed which will in turn reduce the occurrence of negative stereotypic behaviour. Therefore, insects are highly interesting feed sources for poultry from the inside (content) to the outside (appearance).
For that reason, the present research aims to investigate changes in behavioural patterns of laying hens fed different insect products. The video material for the research has already been collected during a laying hen trial. The videos were collected over a period of 7 weeks. Your challenge will be to dive into the analysis of behavioural observations and to find a way to analyse those videos (eg. Activity tracking base on pixel changes) to detect differences in behavioural patterns.
When? The start date of the thesis can be arranged individually
What? Testing the effect of partially replacement of soybean products by insect products on welfare (behaviour) in laying hens
Why? SUPER interesting and HIGHLY novel topic!
Expectation? Enthusiasm and curiosity to explore new fields!
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Used skills Behavioural observation,video tracking, data-analysis, scientific writing, enthusiasm
Requirements For doing a MSc-thesis or internship at Entomology, the following requirements apply: ENT-30806 + a second ENT-course (preferably ENT-30306 or ENT-50806 or ENT-53806). As an alternative for the second ENT-course, PHP-30806 or BHE-30306 can be selected.
Note: these requirements do not apply for MBI students; MBI students should check the requirements for doing an ENT MSc-thesis or internship in the study programme of their specialisation.