| Short communication (Open access) |
|---|
SSR Inst. Int. J. Life. Sci.,
5(2):
2230-2234,
March 2019
Biology of Bombyx mori L. at Talwandi Sabo,
Punjab-Short Communication
Harpreet Singh1*, Anita Singh2,
Jora Singh Brar3
1Student, Department of Entomology, UCoA, Guru Kashi
University, Talwandi Sabo (BTI), Punjab, India
2Former Assistant Professor, Department of
Entomology, UCoA, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo (BTI),
Punjab, India
3HOD, Department of Entomology, UCoA, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo
(BTI), Punjab, India
*Address for Correspondence: Dr. Harpreet Singh,
Student, Department of Entomology, UCoA, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo
(BTI), Punjab, India
E-mail: dr.dandiwal@gmail.com
ABSTRACT- The biology of the Mulberry silkworm was studied under laboratory conditions from January 2018 to April 2018 at Department of Entomology, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo. The results revealed that the female on an average oviposition period was of 20.2±2.38 hour whereas; single female laid on an average 107.8±11.04 eggs. The average total larval period was of 23.7±0.95 days. The average pupal period was of 10.36±1.25 days. The average adult emergence period was of 54.92±5.62 days. The longevity of female and male was also recorded. The results revealed that female lived for 5.64±0.48 days and male survived for 4.68±0.47 days. In future, this research will be helpful for starting the sericulture in non-traditional places.
Keywords: Biology, Longevity, Mulberry, Oviposition, Silk
moth
INTRODUCTION- In India, silk production percentage was 15% of total world production [1]. Generally, four kinds of
silkworm are used for silk production. Those are
Mulberry, Eri, Tasar and Muga. But in these
Mulberry silkworms are producing 89.45% of silk [1]. Production of
silk is major agro-based rural industry [2]. This Bombyx mori L. is a monophagous insect that feeds exclusively on mulberry
leaves. In India, five states i.e. Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamilnadu,
Andra Pradesh, and West Bengal are the traditional state for silk production [1,2].
But very less work was done in the field of sericulture at Punjab. Therefore
present investigation was conducted on, to study the biology of B. mori
under laboratory condition using mulberry leaves at Talwandi Sabo.
MATERIALS AND METHODS- Silkworm
immature (just after emergence) was collected from Regional Sericulture
Research Station, Central Silk Board, Government of India, Sujanpur during Dec
2017. The collected larva was brought to the Entomology Laboratory at Guru
Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo. The leaves of mulberry was collected from university
campus and surrounding area at Talwandi Sabo. These collected leaves were
cleaned with distilled water. After cleaning, leaves were chopped into small
pieces and given to the newly emerged larvae as food the mulberry leaf food was
daily provided to these larvae. The routine hygiene was also maintained at the
laboratory. Further oviposition period, each larvae duration, and total larval
duration were recorded. The last larval stages of silkworm were kept in
separate containers heaving dry woods for pupation. The total days for pupa
formation were also recorded. The newly formed pupae were kept in insect cages
for adult emergence. Further the total adult emergence period was recorded. The
newly emerged male and female silk moths were separated and kept in separate
containers for mating. After mating, the female silk moths started laying
eggs. Further, the total number of eggs
per female was recorded. The male and female silk moth longevity was also
recorded. The entire recorded data was
transfered on worksheet Microsoft excel 2013 for statistical analysis.
RESULTS- The result revealed that the single silk moth female
laid on an average 107.8±11.04 eggs. 20.2±2.38 hours were the average
oviposition period of mulberry silk moth (Table 1).
The average larval duration for first, second, third, fourth, and fifth larval
instars were recorded as 3.56±0.51, 3.60±0.5, 4.48±0.51, 5.56±0.51, and
6.48±0.51 days respectively. Total 23.68±0.95 days were recorded as average
total larval period (Table 2). Fully grown silk moth fifth in stars larva
stopped feeding, became restless, sluggish and gradually raised their head and
start spinning for forming cocoon. The average pre pupal period was of 2.6±0.5
days. The average pupal period of mulberry silk moth was of 10.36±1.25 days
(Table 2). Cocoon or pupa was oval shaped and full white in colored.
The
adults were emerged after forming holes in the cocoons. The average adult
emergence period was of 54.92±5.62 days. The longevity results revealed that
female lived for 5.64±0.48 days and male survived for 4.68±0.47days (Table 1).
Table 1: Total Adult emergence period,
Adult longevity, Fecundity and Oviposition period of B. mori
|
No. of Observation |
Total Adult Emergence Period
(days) |
Adult Longevity (Days) |
Fecundity (No. of Eggs) |
Oviposition Period (hours) |
|
|
Male |
Female |
||||
|
1 |
62 |
4 |
5 |
121 |
21 |
|
2 |
63 |
5 |
6 |
97 |
17 |
|
3 |
47 |
5 |
5 |
104 |
18 |
|
4 |
49 |
5 |
5 |
114 |
24 |
|
5 |
50 |
5 |
6 |
101 |
23 |
|
6 |
52 |
5 |
5 |
117 |
17 |
|
7 |
63 |
4 |
6 |
120 |
22 |
|
8 |
63 |
4 |
5 |
111 |
20 |
|
9 |
51 |
5 |
5 |
94 |
17 |
|
10 |
52 |
5 |
6 |
119 |
19 |
|
11 |
61 |
4 |
5 |
106 |
23 |
|
12 |
58 |
4 |
5 |
120 |
21 |
|
13 |
53 |
5 |
6 |
110 |
18 |
|
14 |
49 |
5 |
6 |
96 |
21 |
|
15 |
62 |
4 |
6 |
88 |
17 |
|
16 |
60 |
5 |
6 |
114 |
24 |
|
17 |
52 |
5 |
6 |
89 |
19 |
|
18 |
51 |
5 |
6 |
93 |
22 |
|
19 |
49 |
5 |
6 |
122 |
23 |
|
20 |
61 |
4 |
6 |
109 |
20 |
|
21 |
54 |
4 |
6 |
114 |
21 |
|
22 |
50 |
5 |
6 |
91 |
17 |
|
23 |
48 |
5 |
5 |
116 |
19 |
|
24 |
60 |
5 |
6 |
115 |
19 |
|
25 |
53 |
5 |
6 |
114 |
23 |
|
Mean±SD |
54.92±5.62 |
4.68±0.47 |
5.64±0.48 |
107.8±11.04 |
20.2±2.38 |
Table
2: Duration of larval instars, Total larval period, Pre Pupal
period and Pupal period in B. mori
|
No.
of Observation |
Duration
of larval instars of B. mori (days) |
Total
Larval Period (days) |
Pre
pupal Period (days) |
Pupal
Period (days) |
||||
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
||||
|
1 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
24 |
3 |
9 |
|
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
25 |
2 |
9 |
|
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
22 |
3 |
10 |
|
4 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
3 |
9 |
|
5 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
9 |
|
6 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
3 |
10 |
|
7 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
25 |
2 |
12 |
|
8 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
25 |
2 |
10 |
|
9 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
24 |
3 |
11 |
|
10 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
9 |
|
11 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
25 |
2 |
12 |
|
12 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
24 |
3 |
10 |
|
13 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
2 |
9 |
|
14 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
22 |
2 |
9 |
|
15 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
25 |
2 |
11 |
|
16 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
12 |
|
17 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
10 |
|
18 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
3 |
9 |
|
19 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
24 |
2 |
12 |
|
20 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
11 |
|
21 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
24 |
3 |
12 |
|
22 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
24 |
2 |
9 |
|
23 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
12 |
|
24 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
25 |
3 |
12 |
|
25 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
24 |
2 |
11 |
|
Mean±SD |
3.56±0.51 |
3.6±0.5 |
4.48±0.51 |
5.56±0.51 |
6.48±0.51 |
23.68±0.95 |
2.6±0.5 |
10.36±1.25 |
DISCUSSIONS- Observations in this study showed that single female
laid on an average 107.8±11.04 eggs, contrary to Patel et al. [3]
who reported 269 ± 30.23 eggs per female silk moth as average fecundity
rate. The average oviposition period in present study was of
20.2±2.38 hours, whereas Silayach and Khokhar [4] reported
14.97 hours as average oviposition period of mulberry silkmoth.
The
average total larval period was of 23.68±0.95 days. The result obtained by this
study confirm with earlier study done by Tiku et al. [2], who also reported the total larva
duration of silk moth as of 23.77±0.744 days. Meshram [5] worked on B. mori
at Chhattisgarh recorded 26.23±1.18 days for total larval duration.
Kaleem et al. [6] when worked with new strain of mulberry silk
moth revealed that total larval period was of 24.44±1.51 days. Whereas, Alvarez
[7] recorded total larval period of 33.0 days in mulberry silk moth.
In
present study, the average pre pupal period and pupal period was of 2.6±0.5 and
10.36±1.25 days. This finding is similar to Tiku et al. [2]
who recorded 2.29 ±0.46 and 10.20 ±0.92 days for average pre-pupal and total
pupal period respectively. The longevity results revealed that female lived for
5.64±0.48 days and male survived for 4.68±0.47 days. Similar kind of study
conducted by Doddaswami and Subramanva [8] were also revealed that
the female lived longer than male and the average longevity of male and female
was of 5.60±0.70 & 6.23 ±0.43 days respectively.
CONCLUSIONS- Mulberry
silkworm female laid on an average 107.80±11.04 eggs in it life span. The
oviposition period was 20.20±2.38 days and total larval period was of
23.68±0.94 days. Total pupal periods were 10.36±1.25 days. The adult emerged
from pupa in 54.92±5.62 days. The female silk moth lived longer than male silk
moth.
Therefore, in future these types of
studies will motivate farmers to adopt sericulture for their economic
development and will be helpful for starting the
sericulture in non-traditional places.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS- Author
sincerely thanks to Regional Sericulture Research Station, Central Silk Board,
Government of India, Sujanpur for providing silkworm and Guru Kashi University
Dean for providing all laboratory facility.
CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS
Research concept –
Dr. Anita Singh, Dr. Jora Singh Brar
Research design-
Dr. Anita Singh
Supervision-
Dr. Anita Singh
Material-
Dr. Jora Singh Brar, Dr. Anita Singh
Data collection-Harpreet
Singh
Dataanalysis and interpretation-Harpreet
Singh
Literature search-Harpreet
Singh
Writing article-Harpreet
Singh
Critical review-Dr.
Anita Singh
Article editing-Harpreet
Singh
Final approval-
Dr. Anita Singh
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