Influence of Moisture Content of Mulberry Leaf on Growth and Silk Production in Bombyx mori L.

Abstract

The influence of moisture content of mulberry leaf on the growth, development and moisture build up in the body of silkworm was studied by feeding with different maturity leaves to late age of silkworm larvae. Significantly higher larval moisture (79.78%), larval weight (65.65 g), pupal moisture (73.81%) was recorded in top tender leaf (high moisture) fed batches and least was recorded in the coarse leaf (lower moisture) fed batches. Significantly positive correlation between moisture content of leaf and larva to different variables like growth rate, larval weight, single cocoon weight, single shell weight and average filament length were recorded.

Keywords

• Leaf moisture
• Larval moisture
• Larval weight
• Growth
• Development
• Bombyx mori