Rearing performance of indigenous Bombyx mori breeds in subtropical conditions Bukhari Rubia#, Bali R. K. Division of Sericulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu, Main Campus Chatha, Jammu, 180009, J & K #Email: rubiabukhari@gmail.com (corresponding author)
Online published on 24 October, 2019. Abstract Any silkworm breeding programme involves selection of suitable parents. In order to know the superiority of a breed/hybrid a common index giving adequate weightage to all important metric traits is of prime importance. Ten commercial traits viz., fecundity, hatching, larval weight on 5th day of 5th instar, its duration, total larval period, % of malformed cocoons, pupation rate, cocoon and shell weight and shell % were analyzed. The data revealed significant variability among the breeds, of which the promising breeds were identified using multiple trait Evaluation Index (EI) method for cumulative effect of several quantitative characters. Based on these analyses, the breeds ND5, CSR19, PO1, SPO, UDHEY-3, PO3, CSR18, ND2 and NSP were observed scoring maximum EI values (>50). These have been identified as promising breeds and recommended for further use in breeding to boost bivoltine silk production. Top Keywords Silkworm, bivoltine, breeds, rearing performance, commercial traits, evaluation, multiple traits, variability, evaluation Index. Top |