Comparative Assessment of Economic Traits in Selected Parental Breeds and their Hybrids of Bivoltine Silkworm Bombyx mori L.

A comparative assessment of key economic traits was conducted between six parental bivoltine breeds of the silkworm Bombyx mori L., namely APS12, J2, CSR53, A3, H281 and RB18 and their hybrids, prepared by crossing them in various combinations and named as YCM1, YCM2, YCM3, YCM4, YCM5, YCM6, YCM8, YCM9, YCM11, YCM13, YCM14, YCM15, YCM16 and YCM17. The hybrids were reared in three replications following standard procedures, revealed a significant positive correlation among the hybrids for various traits. The superiority of the hybrids over their parental breeds was demonstrated, with hybrid YCM8 showing higher values for fecundity, effective rate of rearing (ERR), larval weight, cocoon weight, shell weight, pupal weight, pupation rate, filament length, denier and raw silk percentage. Additionally, hybrid YCM4 exhibited a higher hatching percentage than the other hybrids and parental races. Notably, all hybrids studied exhibited varying expressions of economic traits compared to the parental breeds, excelling in five or more traits considered for the present study.

Abhishek B. S.*1 and Rohith L. Shankar2 Click here to download file

Research Article | Published online : 06-Nov-2024