Sudwischer Patrick, Krüger Björn, Sitzmann Werner, Hellwig Michael
Research Institute of Feed Technology of IFF, Braunschweig, Germany.
Chair of Special Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2025 May;109(3):854-866. doi: 10.1111/jpn.14098. Epub 2025 Jan 16.
Insects are used as an alternative sustainable, protein-rich ingredient in fish, pet, pig and poultry diets. The significant difference between insect meals and common protein sources is the content of chitin. The nitrogen contained in chitin, which makes up 6.89% of the chitin mass, is detected as crude protein in the analysis and, therefore, deludes the crude protein content in a higher range. In this work, we developed a chitin analysis method that does not require expensive and specialized equipment within insect production and processing industries. The method is based on classical chemical methods such as crude fibre and nitrogen content, making it easily implementable within existing feed analysis. In the process of method validation, a recovery rate of over 95% for chitin in the presence of protein and a standard deviation of < 5% at concentrations as low as 2% was determined. Furthermore, determining chitin at a higher standard deviation of > 10% at concentrations as low as 2% is possible. The method was used to determine the chitin content in various products derived from insect breeding and processing. The chitin content was determined in four insect species (Hermetia Illucens; Tenebrio molitor; Acheta domesticus; Bombyx mori) and different developmental stages of the yellow mealworm (T. molitor), including larvae, pupae and beetles, as well as in commercial pet food. These results also allow for an estimation of the insect protein content, provided that the raw material is known.
昆虫被用作鱼类、宠物、猪和家禽饲料中一种可持续的、富含蛋白质的替代成分。昆虫粉与常见蛋白质来源的显著差异在于几丁质的含量。几丁质中所含的氮（占几丁质质量的6.89%）在分析中被检测为粗蛋白，因此会在更高范围内虚增粗蛋白含量。在这项工作中，我们开发了一种几丁质分析方法，该方法在昆虫生产和加工行业中不需要昂贵的专业设备。该方法基于粗纤维和氮含量等经典化学方法，使其能够在现有的饲料分析中轻松实施。在方法验证过程中，确定在有蛋白质存在的情况下几丁质的回收率超过95%，在低至2%的浓度下标准偏差<5%。此外，在低至2%的浓度下以>10%的更高标准偏差测定几丁质也是可能的。该方法用于测定昆虫养殖和加工衍生的各种产品中的几丁质含量。测定了四种昆虫（黑水虻；黄粉虫；家蟋蟀；家蚕）以及黄粉虫（黄粉虫）不同发育阶段（包括幼虫、蛹和成虫）以及商业宠物食品中的几丁质含量。如果原材料已知，这些结果也可以用于估算昆虫蛋白含量。
