Abstract

Awquib Sabhat, M. A. Malik, Firdose Ahmad Malik, A. M. Sofi and M. R. Mir

Three silkworm breeds namely, SK1, SH6 and NB4D2 were reared on three different mulberry varieties such as Ichinose, Kokuso -20 and Goshoerami under temperate climates of Kashmir to find out the combined effect of the leaf quality and rearing season. The nutritional parameters such as leaf ingested, leaf digested, efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) and efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) into body matter, approximate digestibility (AD), growth rate (GR), consumption index (CI) and coefficient of metabolism (COM) were studied. During spring, the dry matter ingestion and digestion was significantly higher in silkworm races fed with Goshoerami variety in addition to better efficiency of conversion of ingested and digested food into body substance. The bivoltine breeds of NB4D2 and SK1 were the better converters of ingested as well as digested food into body biomass. Seasons also significantly affected the efficiency of conversion of ingested and digested food irrespective of the varieties. Goshoerami was qualified as the best suited host plant for bivoltine silkworm breeds in all the seasons.