Rearing of pureline and hybrid strains of (Bombyx Mori L.) as affected by the climatic room temperature and humidity at the Philippine Textile Research Institute in La Trinidad, Benguet: A comparative study

• Main Author: Josue, Jose J.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1990
• Subjects: Sericulture > Philippines > Benguet; Silkworms; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/638
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study concerning the growth, cocoon production, silk production and adult moth properties of Bombyx mori L. is conducted under the natural climatic room conditions of La Trinidad, Benguet from November 1989 to January 1990. The performance of pureline and hybrid strains was compared in terms of the following: larval weight during the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th day post-fifth stadia duration of larval development larval mortality cocoon recovery cocoon quality in terms of cocoon compactness weight of cocoon shell and cocoon shell ratio weight, length and diameter of cocoon length of cocoon filament percent reliability percent raw silk and fineness of cocoon filament and adult moth properties in terms of moth emergence, moth sex ratio, female moth body weight, fecundity and hatching ratio of fertilized eggs. The twelve silkworm strains utilized were six purelines (LAT 1, LAT 21, LAT 61, B200, B221 and IB1C), three hybrids (LAT 1 x B200, LAT 21 x B221 and LAT 61 x IB1C) and three reciprocal hybrids (B200 x LAT 1, B221 x LAT 21 and IB1C x LAT 61). The mulberry plant used was the A variety.Results indicated that the local climatic room factors of temperature and humidity in La Trinidad, Benguet greatly favored the rearing of the hybrid and reciprocal hybrid strains. Among the six hybrid strains, S9 (LAT 61 x IB1C) had heavy larval weights, short duration of larval development, low percent larval mortality, high percent cocoon recovery, lowest percent of bad cocoons, most compact cocoons, heavy and high percent cocoon shell, heavy cocoon weight, longest cocoons, long cocoon filament length, high percent reelability, high percent raw silk, largest size of cocoon filament, high fecundity and high hatching ratio of fertilized eggs. Similarly, evaluation of the cocoon quality of S12 (IB1C x LAT 61) was comparable with the cocoon attributes of S9.