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- ItemComposite materials for innovative urban farming of alternative food sources (macroalgae and crickets)(Lausanne : Frontiers Media, 2022) Fricke, Anna; Psarianos, Marios; Sabban, Jakob; Fitzner, Maria; Reipsch, Riccardo; Schlüter, Oliver K.; Dreyer, Christian; Vogt, Julia H.-M.; Schreiner, Monika; Baldermann, SusanneFacing an inexorable growth of the human population along with substantial environmental changes, the assurance of food security is a major challenge of the present century. To ensure responsible food consumption and production (SDG 12), new approaches in the food system are required. Thus, environmentally controlled, sustainable production of alternative food sources are of key interest for both urban agriculture and food research. To face the current challenge of integrating food production systems within existing structures, multidisciplinary discourses are required. Here, we bring together novel technologies and indoor farming techniques with the aim of supporting the development of sustainable food production systems. For this purpose, we investigated the feasibility of 10 composite materials for their innovative use as structural support in macroalgal cultivation (settlement substrates) and cricket rearing (housing). Considering material resistance, rigidity, and direct material-organism interactions, the bio-based composite polylactic acid (PLA) was identified as a suitable material for joint farming. For macroalgae cultivation, PLA sustained the corrosive cultivation conditions and provided a suitable substrate without affecting the macroalgal physiology or nutritional composition (carotenoids and chlorophylls). For cricket rearing, PLA provided a suitable and recyclable shelter, which was quickly accepted by the animals without any observed harm. In contrast, other common composite components like phenolic resin or aramid were found to be unsuitable due to being harmful for the cultivated organisms or instable toward the applied sterilization procedure. This multidisciplinary study not only provides profound insights in the developing field of urban indoor food production from a new perspective, but also bridges material science and farming approaches to develop new sustainable and resilient food production systems.
- ItemEffect of Narrowband UV-B Irradiation on the Growth Performance of House Crickets(Basel : MDPI, 2022) Psarianos, Marios; Fricke, Anna; Ojha, Shikha; Baldermann, Susanne; Schreiner, Monika; Schlüter, Oliver K.Indoor co-cultivation systems can answer to the need for sustainable and resilient food production systems. Rearing organisms under light-emitting diodes (LEDs) irradiation provides the possibility to control and shape the emitted light spectra. UV-B-irradiation (280–315 nm) can positively affect the nutritional composition of different plants and other organisms, whereas information on edible insects is scarce. To evaluate the potential effect of the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and LED-emitting LEDs on the rearing and nutritional quality of edible insects, house crickets (Acheta domesticus) were reared from the age of 21 days under controlled LED spectra, with an additional UV-B (0.08 W/m2) dose of 1.15 KJm2 d−1 (illuminated over a period for 4 h per day) for 34 days. UV-B exposure showed no harm to the weight of the crickets and significantly increased their survival by ca. 10% under narrowband UV-B treatment. The nutritional composition including proteins, fat and chitin contents of the insects was not affected by the UV-B light and reached values of 60.03 ± 10.41, 22.38 ± 2.12 and 9.33 ± 1.21%, respectively, under the LED irradiation. Therefore, house crickets can grow under LED irradiation with a positive effect of narrowband UV-B application on their survival.
- ItemSustainable food protein supply reconciling human and ecosystem health: A Leibniz Position(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2020) Weindl, Isabelle; Ost, Mario; Wiedmer, Petra; Schreiner, Monika; Neugart, Susanne; Klopsch, Rebecca; Kühnhold, Holger; Kloas, Werner; Henkel, Ina M.; Schlüter, Oliver; Bußler, Sara; Bellingrath-Kimura, Sonoko D.; Ma, Hua; Grune, Tilman; Rolinski, Susanne; Klaus, SusanneMany global health risks are related to what and how much we eat. At the same time, the production of food, especially from animal origin, contributes to environmental change at a scale that threatens boundaries of a safe operating space for humanity. Here we outline viable solutions how to reconcile healthy protein consumption and sustainable protein production which requires a solid, interdisciplinary evidence base. We review the role of proteins for human and ecosystem health, including physiological effects of dietary proteins, production potentials from agricultural and aquaculture systems, environmental impacts of protein production, and mitigation potentials of transforming current production systems. Various protein sources from plant and animal origin, including insects and fish, are discussed in the light of their health and environmental implications. Integration of available knowledge is essential to move from a dual problem description (“healthy diets versus environment”) towards approaches that frame the food challenge of reconciling human and ecosystem health in the context of planetary health. This endeavor requires a shifting focus from metrics at the level of macronutrients to whole diets and a better understanding of the full cascade of health effects caused by dietary proteins, including health risks from food-related environmental degradation. © 2020