frass is the name of the insect's feces, just as we do. As they grow up, insects produce a series of silhouettes of their outgrown exoskeletons, also called exuviae.
The waste may be good news for plants. When mixed into soil, exuviae and frass have the capacity to promote plant growth.
Several scientists argue in an opinion paper published on Wednesday in the journal Trends in Plant Science that this type of insect should be used to grow sustainable crops. The amount of waste produced by insects is growing. The scientists would like to collect the waste and mix it with the soil in order to encourage plant growth. A circular food system would be created when the insects fed on organic waste.
Esther Ngumbi, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, said that someone finally made that connection. In her lab, Dr. Ngumbi works with insect frass and beneficial microbes.
One of the paper's authors said that they can kill two flies with one stone.
The benefits of insect waste were discovered by Dr. Dicke in a conversation withWietse de Boer, a microbiologist at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology. Adding insect skins to the soil enriched its existingbacteria, promoting plant growth. Dr. Dicke wanted to form a team to research the ideas that he was studying.
They surveyed the research on how plant health could be improved. Much of the research focused on frass, which provides soil with nitrogen and other nutrients that are often added to cropland in the form of animal manure.
In the new paper, the researchers argue that both insect frass and exuviae can promote plant health above and below ground in a number of ways.
The shells of crustaceans like shrimp are made up of a hard substance called chitin. Microbes help plants break down chitin into usable forms. Bacilli and other microbes that are already in the soil are stimulated by the growth of insect exoskeletons.
The researchers focused on exuviae and frass from crickets, mealworms and black soldier flies.
While the new paper proposes how this circular system might work in theory, the researchers have begun to run experiments in the lab and in the field to determine how it might work in practice.
After experimenting with different ratios of frass and exuviae, Ms. Barrag finished a powdered mixture. She mixed a small amount of it into the soil before planting mustard. She found that the mixture could increase plant reproduction by increasing the number of flowers. The results are not public.
It is great to see the power that these insects have.
More insect waste will be produced as the industry grows. Some companies are starting to sell this waste asfertilizer. A mealworm farmer in Nebraska produces approximately two pounds of frass for every pound of mealworms.
It would be more sustainable to recycle this waste, which is already more efficient than farming larger livestock such as cows and pigs.
Dr. Dicke applied for funding to experiment with a sustainable system of insect waste on a larger scale.
People think of insect feces as something to get rid of. She said that the new paper might change her practices in her lab.
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