Evaluation of Various Mulberry Morus spp. (Moraceae) Cultivars for the Rearing of the Bivoltine Hybrid Race Shaanshi BV-333 of the silkworm Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae)

Abstract

The performance of the Bombyx mori Linnaeus bivoltine hybrid, Shaanshi BV-333, was evaluated on six mulberry cultivars of Morus spp. based on economic characters in rearing and mulberry leaf quality. The growth rate and morphological characteristics for all the cultivars were studied using several parameters. Specific characters such as disease resistance, survival percentage, cocoon weight, cocoon shell weight and single cocoon filament length were recorded during the rearing of silkworm larvae. Tested cultivars significantly differed in all parameters. Cultivars Kanva-2/M5, Thailand, Thika and S-36 exhibited superiority in rearing performance over other tested cultivars. Silkworms fed with cv. Thailand had the highest survival percentage of larvae in the short (S1) and long (S2) rainy seasons as compared with other cultivars. However, cv. Embu produced the lowest mortality during the dry season (S3), while S-41 produced the lowest survival rate in all seasons. Embu had significantly higher filament length and cocoon yield compared with the other cultivars during S3. However, S-41 performed poorly in survival percentage, cocoon yield, silk reeling and cocoon shell weight