Red Palm WeevilRhynchhophus ferrogineus(Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a common forestry quarantine pest, and its larvae pose a significant threat to palm crops such as coconuts and dates. However, due to its high protein and fat content and high economic benefits, the history of large-scale breeding and consumption of red palm weevils in Southeast Asia, Africa, and other regions is still very long. However, the duration of the larval stage of the red brown elephant beetle is relatively long, and the material changes during its development are not yet clear, which is not conducive to its resource utilization and targeted prevention and control. Recently, a research team from theCoconut Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CRICATAS)systematically analyzed the biological morphology, basic components, amino acid, fatty acid, and mineral composition, metabolites, and in vitro antioxidant activity of red palm weevil larvae in early (EL), medium (ML), and old (OL) stages.
Figure 1 Researchtechnologyroute
It was found that the larvae of the red palm weevil are rich in protein (32.1-53.8%) and fat (18.55-67.95%), and the protein contains 17 amino acids, mainly glutamic acid. The oil is mainly unsaturated fatty acids (52.17-53.12%), and there are also abundant mineral elements such as potassium (5707.12-15865.04 mg/kg) and phosphorus (2123.87-7728.31 mg/kg). EL and ML contain high levels of protein (53.87% dw) and fat (67.95 g/100 g), respectively. A total of 424 metabolites were identified among the three larvae, and as the larvae developed, differential metabolites showed enrichment trends in the TCA cycle, aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis, and mTOR signaling pathway. The EC50values of EL water extract for hydroxyl, DPPH, and ABTS radicals were 1.12, 11.23, and 2.52 mg/mL, respectively. The research results can provide new ideas for the resource utilization and biological control of red palm weevil larvae.
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Figure 2: Cluster heatmap, Venn diagram (f), and species proportion diagram (g) of differential metabolites of amino acids (a), organic acids (b), lipids (c), carbohydrates (d), vitamins, and coenzyme factors (e) in red palm weevilRhynchhophus ferrogineuslarvae.
The related achievements were published in the journal 'Inspections' under the title' Combined Analysis of Metabolomics and Biochemical Changes Reveals the Nutritional and Functional Characteristics of Red Palm Weevil Rhynchhophus ferrogineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Larvae at Different Developmental Stages'. Chen Mengran, a joint graduate student from Coconut Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and Hainan University, is the first author of the paper. Zhang Yufeng, Associate Researcher at Coconut Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, and Qin Weiquan, Researcher, are co corresponding authors of the paper. This study was supported by the Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation High level Talent Project (321RC660) and the National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System (CARS-14).
Related paper full text link:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/15/4/294
