Effect of biofertilizers on mulberry silkworm

Abstract

Nutrition of mulberry has a vital role in sericulture as it improves the growth, development, health, feed consumption and conversion, thereby improving the commercial traits of mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori L., as it influences its growth and cocoon production. Hence, the effect of three biofertilizers viz., vermicompost, Phosphobacteria, Azotobacter and their mixture was studied on weight of larvae, disease incidence, coccon weight, single shell weight, coccon shell ratio, effective rate of rearing, cocoon yield, cocoon filament length and weight, and denier of silkworm. The results revealed that significantly high weight of ten matured larvae (35.26 g), single cocoon weight (1.72 g), single shell weight (0.34 g), cocoon shell ratio (19.76%), cocoon yield/10, 000 larvae brushed (17.00 kg), cocoon filament length (928 m), cocoon filament weight (0.275 g), denier (2.66), lower disease incidence (1.33%) and highest effective rate of rearing (98.66%) were obtained in larvae fed with leaves of variety V-1 applied with vermicompost, Azotobacter and Phosphobacteria in equal proportions.