Effect of Water Treated Mulberry Leaves on the Commercial Characteristics of Bombyx mori L. during Wet Summer in West Bengal

Abstract

Present investigation indicates that feeding larvae with Mulberry leaves which were water dipped and dried for entire larval instar (T2) and in late larval instar (T4) gave better performance than control in respect of most of the larval and cocoon characters. But feeding larvae with leaves immediately water dipped for entire larval instar (T₁) and in late larval instar (T3) showed inferior results in terms of all commercial characters in wet summer. This investigation suggests that leaves with high moisture content are not harmful for silkworm larvae at any season but water in the surface of leaves may be harmful for them. So it is important to feed silkworm larvae by just shaking the water from surface of the leaves or by drying the leaves for few minutes particularly during rainy season when the leaves are wetted due to rain. Investigation also reveals that if the wet leaves are dried for some time, it helps to increase the moisture percentage of leaves. Then it is also helpful to improve the cocoon characters.