Protein fortification improved silkworm productivity Sharma Arti1,*, Sharma Palvi1, Bandral Rakesh Singh2, Gupta Rakesh Kumar3, Bali Kamlesh4 1Ph.D. Scholar, Division of Sericulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu-180009, J&K 2Professor, Division of Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu-180009, J&K 3Professor and Head, Division of Sericulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu-180009, J&K 4Professor, Division of Sericulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu-180009, J&K *Corresponding author email id: artiattusharma@gmail.com
Online Published on 18 March, 2024. Abstract Nutrition is one of the most important factors that contribute to the growth, development and subsequent cocoons production of silkworm, Bombyx mori L. However, little is known about the use of bee pollen, drone brood and protinex as a fortifying agent. Mulberry leaves fortified with different proteins were fed to silkworm larvae once in 4th and 5th instar. The economical parameters of silkworm were significantly increased with optimized concentrations of different proteins. Lowest disease incidence (2%), maximum larval weight (43.43g), cocoon weight (2.26g), shell weight (0.516g), pupal weight (1.74g) and shell ratio (22.86%) were recorded at (2%) bee pollen concentration followed by protinex (10%), bee pollen (5%) + protinex (5%) and drone brood (6%). Top Keywords Bee pollen, Cocoon, Drone brood, Fortification, Protinex, Silkworm. Top |