Effect of Micronutrient Supplemented Mulberry Leaves on Larvae of Silk Worm Bombyx mori Marin Grace, Arivoli Subramanian1, Tennyson Samuel2,* Department of Zoology, Scott Christian College, Nagercoil629003, Tamil Nadu, India 1Department of Zoology, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore632115, Tamil Nadu, India 2Department of Zoology, Madras Christian College, Chennai600059, Tamil Nadu, India *Email: samtennyson@gmail.com (corresponding author): ORCID ID 0000-0003-3090-7271
Online Published on 04 January, 2024. Abstract The present study explores the effect of micronutrient supplemented mulberry leaves on PMxCSR2 hybrid variety of Bombyx mori L. larvae. The field experiment with twelve treatments including a control (T0 to T11), replicated thrice, was supplemented with the desired quantity of the respective micronutrient in individual or in combination. Twenty early B. mori fourth and fifth instar larvae/ replication were fed with the 5-6 fully mature mulberry leaves (T0 to T11) twice a day (morning and evening). The results showed that food consumption increased to a maximum of 31.56 and 22.98%, and assimilation increased by 51.38 and 34.56% over control (4th and 5th instar, respectively) with treatment T9 (CuSO4 15 kg/ ha + ZnSO4 15 kg/ ha + FeSO4 30 kg/ ha). With the same treatment, total growth increased by 94.95 and 65.67%, and approximate digestibility by 15.14 and 9.33%; tissue growth efficiency also increased by 65.35 and 49.61% with this treatment, while maximum ecological growth efficiency increased by 49.58% and 52.0% over control in T11 (CuSO4 25 kg/ ha + ZnSO4 25 kg/ ha + FeSO4 25 kg/ ha). Larval duration was maximum with T1 (FeSO4 10 kg/ ha alone) (7.63± 19.16 days) as against when fed with the control (T0). Larval length increased by 18.0 and 18.51% in T9, with the larval width increasing by 50.0% in more than one treatment. Maximum chawki larval weight and larval weight increased by 16.78 and 29.44%, while maximum silk gland weight was 2.14± 0.05g in T9. Top Keywords Bombyx mori, Micronutrients, Mulberry, CuSO4, ZnSO4 food consumption, Larval assimilation, Total growth, Digestibility, Tissue growth efficiency, Morphometrics, Characteristics. Top |