Abstract
This study used the larval tissues and colored cocoons of silkworms, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), that were fed leaves of cultivated mulberry, Husang 32, as experimental material. The pigment composition and content in colored cocoons and tissues of the 5th instar larvae and the mulberry leaves were rapidly detected using organic solvent extraction and reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. It was found that the mulberry leaf mainly contained four types of pigment: lutein (30.86%), β -carotene (26.3%), chlorophyll a (24.62%), and chlorophyll b (18.21%). The silk glands, blood, and cocoon shells of six yellow-red cocoons were used as the experimental materials. The results showed that there were generally two kinds of carotenoids (lutein and β -carotene) in the silk gland and cocoon shell, a little violaxanthin was detected in silk gland, and the pigment found in the blood was mainly lutein in all varieties of silkworm tested. Chlorophyll a and b had not been digested and utilized in the yellow-red series of silkworm. The method used to detect visible pigments reported here could be used to breed new colors of cocoons and to develop and utilize the pigments found in mulberry.
Highlights
The awareness of environmental protection and health care consideration has increased as scientific technology and the economy have developed
Carotenoid extraction from the colored cocoon shell The total carotenoid content and two individual pigment contents were calculated according to the equation derived from the standard curve
Ethyl acetate could enhance the solubility of the non-polar carotenoids, but overall, acetone effectively extracted lutein and β-carotene, so this investigation used acetone to extract the various carotenoids in the cocoon
Summary
The awareness of environmental protection and health care consideration has increased as scientific technology and the economy have developed. Naturally-colored silk has natural luster, a soft texture, and avoids the use of chemical dyeing. It has become one of the most important aspects of sericulture development and offers considerable market and developmental potential. In China, naturally-colored cocoons are mainly divided into two series: yellow-red and green. The color of the green series is mainly due to the flavonoid compounds (Tamura et al 2002), but the flavonoids of mulberry leaf may need to pass through a series of chemical modifications in the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. The color of the yellow-red cocoon is due to the carotenoids found in mulberry leaves, including carotene and carrot alcohols (Tsuchida et al 2004; Bhosale et al 2007)
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