Evolution of a Productive Bivoltine Hybrid of Silkworm Bombyx mori L. (SD7 x SD12) with Shorter Larval duration

Abstract

With an objective of evolving quantitatively and qualitatively superior bivoltine silkworm hybrid of Bombyx mori L. for tropics with shorter larval duration without compromising on productivity traits, a breeding programme was initiated at this institute during 1997 by utilizing breeding resource material from the institutes Germplasm collection. The breed SD7 is characterized with plain larvae spinning white oval cocoons and SD12 is characterized by sex-limited larval markings spinning white dumb-bell cocoons. After fixation, these breeds along with other newly evolved breeds were subjected for hybrid evaluation in the laboratory. Based on the hybrid studies, the hybrid SD7 ´ SD12 was selected and evaluated for one year comprising three major seasons (6 trials) of tropics viz., Pre-monsoon (characterized by high temperature, low humidity and without any rain fall), Monsoon (characterized by moderate temperature, heavy rain fall with high humidity) and post-monsoon season (characterized by low temperature and low humidity with frequent rain fall) to know the fluctuations in the larval duration. The evaluation studies indicated that the hybrid is having shorter larval duration with productive merits. The hybrid SD7 ´ SD12 recorded survival percent of 92.74, shell weight of 46.7 cg, shell ratio % of 24.0 and filament length of 1,200 meters with a shorter larval duration of 24 hrs; when compared to productive hybrid CSR2 ´ CSR5 (control). The breeding methodologies and hybrids usefulness for tropics were discussed.