Impact of Lentil Seed (Lens culinaris) fortified Mulberry Leaves on Silk Productivity of Bombyx mori L.

Author: Tajamul Islam, Jasmeena Qadir and Ifat Bashir

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Abstract

The demand for the silk is increasing day by day and the current production of raw silk is not able to meet the required demands. In order to boost the raw silk production a lot of research is being conducted. Fortification of mulberry leaves with essential nutrients such as amino acids is latest trend. In this study, mulberry leaves were fortified with different concentrations of lentil (Lens culnaris) viz., 2mg/ml, 4mg/ml, 6mg/ml, 8mg/ml and 10mg/ml and fed to 5th instar silkworm larvae. The highest weight of ten mature larvae (59.11 g), cocoon weight (2.4g), shell weight (0.52g), shell percentage (21.66%), cocoon yield/10000 larvae by weight (22.12 kg) and filament length (1210.66 m) were recorded in treatment (8mg/ml) in comparison with other treatments and control. The larval weight, cocoon weight, shell weight, shell percentage and filament length showed profound increase upon feeding of 8 mg/ml lentil fortified mulberry leaves which was significantly higher than other treatments and control respectively. The lentil seeds are readily available to farmers, hence, lentil fortified mulberry leaves can be used effectively to enhance the larval and cocoon parameters along with filament length.

Keywords

Sericulture, fortified mulberry, larvae, cocoon weight, filament length

Conclusion

India being the 2nd largest producer of lentil crop contributing 27% to global production. The feeding of lentil seed fortified mulberry leaves to silkworms significantly increased the larval weight, cocoon weight, shell weight, shell percentage, cocoon yield per 10,000 larvae and filament length. Hence, the fortification of mulberry leaves with lentil seed can play an important role to improve silk production. Also, it is advocated that the intercropping of lentil with mulberry crop can be effective strategy to facilitate additional net income along with enhanced silk production at farming level.

References

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How to cite this article

Tajamul Islam, Jasmeena Qadir and Ifat Bashir (2023). Impact of Lentil Seed (Lens culinaris) fortified Mulberry Leaves on Silk Productivity of Bombyx mori L.. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(3): 851-854.