The house cricket, Acheta domesticus, is a commonly reared insect for food and feed purposes. In 1977, a report described a colony collapse, which was caused by the single-stranded DNA virus Acheta domesticus densovirus (AdDV). Currently, there are no confirmed A. domesticus colonies free of AdDV, and viral disease outbreaks are a continuous threat to A. domesticus mass rearing. Correlations between cricket rearing density or temperature and AdDV abundance have been hypothesized, but experimental evidence is lacking. Optimised rearing conditions, including temperature and density, are key to cost-effective cricket production. In this study, house crickets were subjected to different combinations of rearing density (10, 20, 40 crickets per box) and temperature (25, 30, 35 °C) to study the effect on cricket survival, biomass, and AdDV abundance. Rearing temperature affected had a minor effect on survival, which ranged between 80 and 83%. Total cricket biomass increased with higher temperatures and higher densities. Viral abundance in crickets at the end of the rearing period was variable; however, high rearing density seemed to result in higher AdDV abundance. At 35 °C, a temperature considered suboptimal for house cricket production, viral abundance tended to be lower than at 25 or 30 °C.
Keywords: Acheta domesticus; cricket viruses; entomopathogenic viruses; house cricket; insect production; insects as food and feed; mass rearing.