Studies on the Manifestation of Hybrid vigour and Combining Ability in Polyvoltine X Bivoltine (cross breed) Hybrids of Mulberry Silkworm Bombyx mori L.

Abstract

To meet the local requirement i.e. the tropical stress of Andhra Pradesh and marginal farmers, twenty four new hybrid combinations were tested in Line x Tester method involving eight newly developed polyvoltine oval lines viz., MSO1, MSO2, MSO3, MSO4, MSO5, MSO6, MSO7 and MSO8 and three bivoltine silkworm breeds viz., APS12, APS45 and APS8 as testers. These hybrids were reared to evaluate their performance. Data for eight economically important metric traits viz., fecundity, cocoon yield per 10,000 larvae by number, cocoon yield per 10,000 larvae by weight, survival rate, cocoon weight, cocoon shell weight, cocoon shell ratio and filament length was recorded. General combining ability (gca), specific combining ability (sca) and heterosis were analyzed. Further, the relative merit of the hybrids for all the traits under study was also assessed adopting Evaluation Index method. Based on combining ability effects, heterosis and evaluation index, five hybrid combinations viz., MSO3 x APS45, MSO1 x APS12, MSO7 x APS8, MSO2 x APS45 and MSO1 x APS45 were selected for further evaluation in different seasons.