Feeding of different Mulberry Varieties and its Impact on Silk Gland of Silkworm, Bombyx mori L.

Author: Tajamul Islam, Shabir Ahmad Bhat, Firdous Ahmad Malik, Shabir Ahmad Wani, Farooq Ahmad Khan, Shakeel Ahmad Mir and Nageena Nazir

Download PDF

Abstract

The mulberry varieties play an important role for the growth and development of silkworm, Bombyx mori. The good quality mulberry leaves produces excellent growth of silk gland of silkworm, which yields good silk both qualitatively and quantitatively, which finally reflects in the production of good cocoon crop. The research trial was conducted at Division of Sericulture Crop Improvement, College of Temperate Sericulture, Mirgund, SKUAST-Kashmir during spring seasons. The three mulberry varieties namely Kokuso-21, SKM-33 and Goshoerami were fed to silkworm right from brushing upto spinning of cocoons. Besides one control was also maintained throughout rearing period. On the 5th day of fifth instar silkworm larvae were taken and dissected to remove silk gland for recording of silk gland weight, tissue somatic index, silk conversion index and silk productivity. Among these tested mulberry varieties highest silk gland weight (1.965 g) was recorded in Goshoerami fed silkworm batch. Furthermore, highest silk productivity (5.433 cg/day) and silk conversion index (21.8 %) was recorded in Kokuso-21 fed silkworm batch. The tissue somatic index did not show any significant difference after fed on different mulberry varieties.

Keywords

Feeding, mulberry varieties, silk gland, Bombyx mori

Conclusion

The nutritive value of mulberry leaf is an important factor for determining the success of silkworm rearing and cocoon formation. Quality mulberry leaves are found to incite the healthy growth of silk gland of silkworm, which finally produces good cocoon crop. The mulberry varieties varies in the biochemical constitution of leaves and therefore influences the growth and development of silk gland of silkworm differently. In the present study Goshoerami and Kokuso-21 varieties showed significant improvement in the parameters like silk gland weight, silk productivity and silk conversion index as compared to other varieties and control. The good performance shown by these varieties may be due to the increased nutrients in the form of moisture content, moisture retention capacity, proteins, carbohydrates, free amino acids etc present in the leaves of these mulberry varieties. Due to the high nutritive content in the leaves of these mulberry leaves, these can be utilized for the better growth of silkworms, which will result in the success of sericulture for silkworm rearers and uflift them economically. Keeping the above research findings in mind further experiments can be conducted to evolve more mulberry genotypes which will be more nutrition rich and will have more suitability as silkworm feed for silkworm rearing.

References

-

How to cite this article

Tajamul Islam, Shabir Ahmad Bhat, Firdous Ahmad Malik, Shabir Ahmad Wani, Farooq Ahmad Khan, Shakeel Ahmad Mir and Nageena Nazir (2023). Feeding of different Mulberry varieties and its Impact on silk gland of silkworm, Bombyx mori L. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(1): 488-492.