Cocoon Production Research Articles

Possibilities and Conditions of Developing Mulberry Silkworm Rearing in Poland, Especially for Purposes Related to the Production of Natural Cosmetics Based on Silk Proteins Obtained from Silkworm Cocoons

ABSTRACT Sericulture is associated primarily with the production of cocoons for textile purposes. However, the widespread availability of synthetic fibers caused a decline in interest in natural fabrics, including silk. Changing trends on the textile market made it necessary to find the new possibilities of using mulberry silkworm cocoons. Due to the, fact that the silk fiber is made mainly of two proteins – sericin and fibroin they began to be used in the cosmetics industry. Smoothing, moisturizing, nourishing and anti-wrinkle properties have made cosmetics based on silk proteins very popular. Research conducted among consumers shows that when choosing cosmetics, they are more and more often guided not only by the price, but also by the composition and origin of the ingredients. The fully organic rearing of the mulberry silkworm provides raw materials with valuable properties. The possibilities of using cocoons in cosmetics constitute an alternative to the use of cocoons in the textile industry. We examined the prospect of revitalizing the Polish silk industry in the view of testing whether silkworm farming in Poland may become a common and profitable activity.

Toxicity of procymidone toBombyx mori based on physiological and transcriptomic analysis.

Procymidone is widely used in vegetables and fruits because of its broad-spectrum and high efficiency. However, it is unclear whether procymidone can affect silkworm (Bombyx mori) growth and cocoon production. This study investigated the effects of procymidone on the growth and cocoon production of silkworms. We analyzed the growth, and cocoon quality of fifth instar larvae fed on mulberry leaves saturated with different concentrations (2.5, 5, and 10 mg/ml) of procymidone and the control. Results showed that procymidone supplementation decreased the larval growth and cocoon quality compared to the control group, suggesting that procymidone had toxicity to silkworms. Additionally, after transcriptomic analysis, we identified 396 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the presence of procymidone. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) illustrated that these DEGs were closely related to metabolism. Taken together, these results confirmed that procymidone could cause toxicity by affecting metabolism in silkworm larvae. We believed that these results could provide important materials for the effect of procymidone on silkworms and gave us some clues for pesticides used in the mulberry garden.

Cultivation and Breeding Techniques for Increase Silk Productivity in Indonesia

Silk is one of the textile products derived from plant fibres and is a sericulture product. Sericulture activities have a positive impact on the economy and society, as well as environmental sustainability. The many benefits of sericulture have made the Ministry of Environment and Forestry define silk as one of the potential non-timber forest products to be developed. However, there are many obstacles in developing sericulture, especially upstream (moriculture and silkworm rearing), namely low productivity. Forestry Research and Development Center is one of the stakeholders in silk development. This paper reviews the activities carried out by FRDC related to natural silk, both the development of mulberry and silkworms. The three activities carried out include research on cultivation techniques, conservation and breeding of mulberry plants and silkworms. Increased productivity is obtained by crossing or hybridization to get superior seeds. The superior products produced are Suli 01 mulberry seeds, PS 01 silkworm hybrids, and sericulture development techniques with high productivity. The Suli 01 mulberry hybrid had 30% more leaf production than conventional mulberry (M. cathayana), and the PS 01 silkworm hybrid increased cocoon production per box by 40% compared to the commonly used C301 silkworm.

Weed Management in Mulberry (Morus alba): A Review

Mulberry leaf is a sole food of silkworm Bombyx mori on which it feeds and produces silk called mulberry or mori silk. Due to its quality, mori silk has huge demand in national and international market and earns a valuable foreign exchange for the country. Weeds are of great menace as they interfere with production and quality of mulberry leaf and also add significant amount to the cost of cultivation. The factors which are congenial for heavy weed growth in mulberry are continuous mono-cropping, wider spacing coupled with regular application of manures and fertilizers after each crop harvest for maintenance of plantation. The reduction in production and quality of leaf has direct correlation with production of cocoons and quality silk. If losses due to weeds can be reduced by half from present level of 30-40%, leaf yield of mulberry will increase by 9-12 MT ha-1 year-1 which can be utilized to produce 55-73.5 kg ha-1 year-1 more raw silk to enhance the silk production of country. The effective weed control involves identification of weed flora, method of weed control and judicious combination of effective weed control methods. Depending upon soil type, agro climatic and ecological conditions, the nature and intensity of weed flora, their competitiveness varies. A total of 57-141 weed species belongs to 28-44 families have been reported in mulberry field across the country. Manual weeding in mulberry is an age old practice in India, but it is a tedious, expensive and time consuming. Black polyethylene mulching alone has been found economically advantageous over manual weeding in mulberry plantation. However no single method viz., manual weeding, cover crop intercropping, herbicide and mulching found effective in weed control as compared to integrated method of weed control. Spraying of pre-emergence and early post emergence herbicides keeps the mulberry plantation in weed free conditions during the early stages. At later stage, when second flush of weeds attains peak after 30 days of pruning, spraying of herbicide is not possible due to chance of residual toxicity to the silkworm. Integration of pre herbicide followed by manual weeding at later stage or integration of hand weeding after pruning followed by either cover crop intercropping or mulching may helps to reduce damage due to weed, prevent silkworm from residual toxicity of herbicide and reduces manual weeding cost to some extent. Hence a brief review was presented to find out the influence of different weed management method in mulberry.

BIOLOGY OF THE EPIGEIC EARTHWORMS IN TROPICAL WET AND DRY CLIMATE OF DHARWAD (KARNATAKA), INDIA

Studies on biology of epigeic earthworms is very much necessary for the selection of suitable earthworm species in effective organic waste management through vermiculture and vermicomposting process for the production of quality and quantity worm biomass (vermiprotein) and vermicompost (biofertilizer). Hence, the present study was undertaken to study the biology of different epigeic earthworm species such as Eudrilus eugeniae (EE), Eisenia fetida (EF) and Perionyx excavatus (PE) cultured in cattle manure at tropical wet and dry climate of Dharwad district, Karnataka state, India. The results of the present study revealed that the incubation period or the time of emergence of juveniles from the cocoon was less (16.33±0.53 days) in Perionyx excavatus as compared to Eudrilus eugeniae (22.33±0.73 days) and Eisenia fetida (24.33±0.88 days). The percent hatching of cocoon was more in E. eugeniae (86.66±6.66) followed by E. fetida (73.33±5.33) and P. excavatus (66.66±4.66), whereas number of hatchling/cocoon was more in Eisenia fetida (2.66±0.33) followed by Eudrilus eugeniae (2.33±0.28) and less in Perionyx excavatus (1.33±0.23). The mean weight of juvenile (mg) at the time of hatching was more in EE (7.90±0.20) followed by EF (7.00±0.57) and less in PE (5.70±0.35). The attainment of sexual maturity was observed early during 6th -9th week in EF and PE, but it was late in EE during 7th -10th week and commencement of cocoon production was noticed soon after one or two week of maturity i.e. from 8th week onwards. It was continuous and multimodal in nature with slight decline in the growth rate after maturity and cocoon production in all three epigeic earthworm species (EE, EF and PE). The various life activities such as incubation period and number of hatchling, maturity were more in EF as that of EE and PE, whereas percent hatching and juvenile weight were more in EE followed by EF and PE. Therefore, the success of vermiculture and vermicomposting process for the production of quality and quantity worm biomass (vermiprotein) and vermicompost (biofertilizer) is mainly depends on the biology or life cycle of the epigeic earthworms, type of organic waste materials used and it also depends on the prevailing abiotic factors.

The effect of different blood (camel and frogs) on sexual maturity, survival and the production of cocoons and larvae in oriental leech (Hirudo orientalis).

The effect of different blood (camel and frogs) on sexual maturity, survival and the production of cocoons and larvae in oriental leech (Hirudo orientalis).

Behavioral, histopathological, genetic, and organism-wide responses to phenanthrene-induced oxidative stress in Eisenia fetida earthworms in natural soil microcosms.

Phenanthrene (PHE) contamination not only changes the quality of soil environment but also threatens to the soil organisms. There is lack of focus on the eco-toxicity potential of this contaminant in real soil in the current investigation. Here, we assessed the toxic effects of PHE on earthworms (Eisenia fetida) in natural soil matrix. PHE exhibited a relatively high toxicity to E. fetida in natural soil, with the LC50 determined to be 56.68mgkg-1 after a 14-day exposure. Excessive ROS induced by PHE, leading to oxidative damage to biomacromolecules in E. fetida, including lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, and DNA damage. The antioxidant defense system (total antioxidant capacity, glutathione S-transferase, peroxidase, catalase, carboxylesterase, and superoxide dismutase) in E. fetida responded quickly to scavenge excess ROS and free radicals. Exposure to PHE resulted in earthworm avoidance responses (2.5mgkg-1) and habitat function loss (10mgkg-1). Histological observations indicated that the intestine, body wall, and seminal vesicle in E. fetida were severely damaged after exposure to high-dose PHE. Moreover, earthworm growth (weight change) and reproduction (cocoon production and the number of juvenile) were also inhibited after exposure to this pollutant. Furthermore, the integrated toxicity of PHE toward E. fetida at different doses and exposure times was assessed by the integrated biomarker response (IBR), which confirmed that PHE is more toxic to earthworms in the high-dose and long-term exposure groups. Our results showed that PHE exposure induced oxidative stress, disturbed antioxidant defense system, and caused oxidative damage in E. fetida. These effects can trigger behavior changes and damage histological structure, finally cause growth inhibition, genotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity in earthworms. The strength of this study is the comprehensive toxicity evaluation of PHE to earthworms and highlights the need to investigate the eco-toxicity potential of exogenous environmental pollutants in a real soil environment.

Foliar supplementation of ascorbic acid modulates biochemical performance of silkworm, Bombyx mori under thermal stress.

Dietary supplementation of ascorbic acid was found to be effective in modifying the composition of essential biomolecules. A relative investigation on effects of exogenous dietary supplementation of 0.2% ascorbic acid on the fifth instar larvae of silkworm, Bombyx mori exposed to a high thermal stress of range 40±2°C was carried out in the lab-set conditions. The observed elevation in various biomolecules, viz., DNA, RNA, protein, lipids, and carbohydrates were quantified in both the thermal stress-induced test groups and in the control, set aside. The test results so obtained were proven to be statistically significant. The present study reveals that foliar supplementation of ascorbic acid has been effective in positively-modulating the biochemical performance in larvae exposed to thermal stress. Moreover, the study also uncovers the possibilities of ascorbic acid as a potential candidate, capable of facilitating the production of good quality cocoons, from larvae exposed to thermal stress.

Prominent Doses of Nitrogen Enhance Mulberry and Silk Cocoon Productivity

Nitrogen (N) has potential to improve leaf yield and quality of mulberry plant. However, optimum doses of N for mulberry cultivation have not been updated for long times on the newly developed mulberry varieties in Bangladesh. A study was conducted at the research field and laboratories of Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI), Rajshahi to determine the nitrogen (N) requirements and optimum age of mulberry plants to get higher leaf yield, better quality of leaves, successful silkworm rearing performance and suppresses of foliar diseases in mulberry plant. The six treatments executed for trials on N requirements of mulberry plants were: N: 0, 80, 160, 240, 320 and 400 kg/ha/yr. The blanket doses of P & K for N trial were fixed as per recommended doses of BSRTI. Research results indicated that the added nutrient elements (N) favored in increasing growth, leaf yield, improving quality of mulberry leaves, suppresses foliar diseases as well as improved silk cocoon productivity. The leaf yield increased with increased rates of N application. The highest leaf yield was 51.88 Mt/ha/yr found in older plants of 6-10 years of age with the application of N @ 400 kg/ha/yr which was 6.57% higher than the maximum average yield of less than 5 years ages of mulberry plant. All the growth and quality parameters of leaves viz: moisture, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total sugar, soluble carbohydrate, reducing sugar and crude protein exhibited the best performance with the better silkworm rearing performances viz: wt. of 10 matured larval (g), effective rate of rearing by number, single cocoon wt. (g), single shell wt. (g), SR%, highest filament length (m), rendita and cocoon yield/100 dfls (kg) through the treatment of N400 P150 K100 kg/ha/yr (T5) with four split doses in 6-10 years ages of mulberry plant, where the cocoon productivity was 57.85% greater than the control treatment. Furthermore, the average incidence percentages of leaf spot, tukra and powdery mildew diseases were also reduced for the increasing doses of nitrogen. This study concluded that elevated N enhances mulberry leaf yield, quality, silk cocoon productivity as well as suppresses the foliar diseases incidence of mulberry plant.

Extreme learning machines for weather-based modelling of silk cocoon production

In spite of the immense popularity and sheer power of the neural network models, their application in sericulture is still very much limited. With this backdrop, this study evaluates the suitability of neural network models in comparison with the linear regression models in predicting silk cocoon production of the selected six districts (Kolar, Chikballapur, Ramanagara, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Mysuru) of Karnataka by utilising weather variables for ten consecutive years (2009-2018). As the weather variables are found to be correlated, principal components are obtained and fed into the linear (principal component regression) and non-linear models (back propagation-artificial neural network and extreme learning machine) as inputs. Outcomes emanated from this experiment have revealed the clear advantages of employing extreme learning machines (ELMs) for weather-based modelling of silk cocoon production. Application of ELM would be particularly useful, when the relation between production and its attributing characters is complex and non-linear.

Comparison of Gut Microbiota between Midgut of Healthy and Tiger Band Disease Infected Oak Tasar Silkworm, Antheraea proylei J

Antheraea proylei J., an economically significant silkworm in the Northeastern region of India, is exclusively domesticated for Tasar silk production. This silkworm is susceptible to various diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi, including the recently dreadful viral disease dubbed tiger band disease. This viral infection causes damage to silkworm larvae affecting cocoon production, which causes significant losses to the economy of the silk industry. The gut microbiota plays a crucial

Seasonal variations and obstacles of cocoon production in Tashkent region, Uzbekistan

Seasonal variations and obstacles of cocoon production in Tashkent region, Uzbekistan

Dietary exposure of copper and zinc oxides nanoparticles affect the fitness, enzyme activity, and microbial community of the model insect, silkworm Bombyx mori

Copper and Zinc oxides nanoparticles (CuO and ZnO NPs, respectively) are among the most produced and commonly used engineered nanomaterials. They can be released into the environment, thereby causing health concerns and risks to biodiversity that indicate a need to evaluate their toxicological effects in a complex situation. Here, we used the insect model organism silkworm Bombyx mori to address the concerns about the biological effects associated with dietary exposure of CuO and ZnO NPs. ICP-MS analysis revealed significant accumulation of Cu and Zn (the latter being more accumulated) in silkworms' tissues (gut, fat body, silk gland, and malpighian tubule), and some elimination through feces in the respective NPs-exposed groups. NPs-exposures led to a decrease in larval body mass, survivorship, and cocoon production, where the effects of ZnO NPs were more pronounced. We also found that NPs-exposure induced gene expression changes (Attacin, lysozyme, SOD, and Dronc) and altered the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GST, and CAT), as well as impaired nutrient metabolism (alpha-amylase). Given their antibacterial property, CuO and ZnO NPs decreased species richness and diversity of the gut bacterial community and shifted their configuration to overt microbiome i.e., decreased abundance of probiotics (e.g., Acetobacter) and increased pathobionts (e.g., Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Escherichia, Enterococcus, Ralstonia, etc.) proportions. Overall, this integrated study revealed the unintended negative effects of CuO and ZnO NPs on silkworms and highlighted the potential to inevitably affect all living things due to intensive and possible mishandling of nanomaterials.

A Study On The Sericulture in Turkey

Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Silk was believed to have first been produced in China as early as the Neolithic Period. Sericulture has become an important cottage industry in countries such as Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Today, China and India are the two main producers, with more than 60% of the world's annual production. In this case, the sericulture production in Turkey, as the export-oriented shows could increase in the future. Sericulture production was begun in Anatolia which is Asian part of Turkey in A.D. 552 during Byzantium Emperor of Justinianus. The city of Bursa became a textile city which was famous for silk and silk trade centre. In middle of 16th silk textile industry was developed. Apart from city of Bursa, cities of Istanbul, dirne, Amasya, Denizli, Izmir and Konya were important sericulture centers In addition; the increase of government support in sericult production is also hope for the future of sericulture production in Turkey. In this study, using the silkworm cocoon data between the years of 1991-2019, the future 5-year production is estimated. For this, estimates were tested in the MINITAB program using the ARIMA Model, which is widely used in agricultural production estimates. Unconscious use of pesticides in Turkey, problems with mulberry tree cultivation, technical problems and rural-urban migration results are known to be important issues of the sericulture sector.However, thanks to government subsidies and export-oriented policies, it has been determined that silkworm cocoon production will increase in the next 5 years.

COMBINED TOXICITY EFFECTS OF NEEM OIL AND MILD SOAP ON MYLLOCERUS VIRIDANUS IN MORUS ALBA

ABSTRACT The insect Myllocerus viridanus in mulberry cultivation (Morus alba) causes significant harm to sericulture industry throughout the year which hampers leaf quality, silkworm rearing, and cocoon production. In this study, the treatment with neem oil (Azadirachta indica) in five different concentrations (1 to 5ml/L) along with mild soap solution (Khadi) to assess the mortality of M. viridanus at laboratory conditions. The lethal concentrations (LC30 – 3.096;LC50 – 3.471; LC90 - 4.589) were determined by spraying of the neem oil solution to adults of M. viridanus. The results showed that neem oil effectively suppressed M. viridanus and that the mortality of M. viridanus increased gradually (34 %, 44 %, 60 %, 78 %, and 100%) over the control as the concentration of neem oil increased.

FOREST BASED ACTIVITY AND CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN IN ENRICHING TASAR COCOON PRODUCTION IN CHHATTISGARH STATE – A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Livelihood opportunities in Indian subcontinent for tribal and village population are very limited. NTFPs offers some amount of support for various tribal communities who thrive on procurement of non-timber forest products and marketing them to fulll their basic necessities of food and clothing. With environment lobbies becoming stronger and governments yielding to their inuences by making stricter forest laws thus are restricting the tribal population to explore other means for their survival. Tasar culture is one of the most suitable and highly specialized occupations which have been practiced in tribal and inaccessible area of Chhattisgarh with larger tribal population by producing tasar cocoons and marketing them. In the process, Chhattisgarh state has emerged as the second largest producer of Tasar silk or popularly known as Kosa Silk locally. The women populations engaged in or supporting the activities of tasar culture are of prime signicance by contributing substantial labour force in various activities of tasar culture. Women constitute about 33% of manual work force in various activities of production of cocoons and subsequent chain of reeling and spinning activities. The present paper deals with the various aspects of women empowerment engaged in tasarculture activities have been enumerated and subsequent contribution to rural economy have been assessed. The state of chhattisgarh is formed few decades ago has made signicant strides in production of tasar silk. Women's contribution in achieving milestones is highlighted.

GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION OF THE EPIGEIC EARTHWORM, EISENIA FETIDA (SAVIGNY, 1826) CULTURED IN VARIOUS ORGANIC WASTES

: The study was carried out to evaluate the influence and suitability of various organic wastes on growth and reproduction of the epigeic earthworm, E. fetida maintained at uncontrolled laboratory environmental conditions. There was a much variation in biomass, growth rate and cocoon production by this earthworm in different organic wastes such as False Ashoka Waste-FAW (Polyalthia longifolia), Parthenium Waste- PW (Parthenium hysterophorus), Cotton Residue Waste- CRW (Gossypium), Lawn Grass Waste- LGW (Agrostis) and Control- Cattle manure-CM used in these experiments. The mean maximum (923.54 ±1122.59) and minimum (481.47±56.13) biomass of worm was observed in PW and FAW respectively. The mean growth rate of worm was 6316.10±529.36, 11836.00±1086.30, 9053.00±807.22, 6969.00±582.42, 10842.00±1011.50 observed in FAW, PW, CRW, LGW and CM (control) respectively. There is a significant variation (P0.05) in both worm biomass and growth rate of worms was observed among all the organic wastes, whereas no significant variation was noticed in between different organic wastes, except between PW & FAW, CM & FAW, LGW & PW and CM & LGW in biomass and between LGW & FAW; CM & PW and CM & CRW in growth rate respectively.
 The attainment of sexual maturity and 100% maturity was observed early in Control-CM on 6 th week and 8th week followed by all other organic wastes on 7 th week and 9th week respectively. The maximum cocoon production worm/week was observed in Control-CM with 2.86±0.37 followed by CRW (2.16±0.30), PW (2.11±0.30), FAW (1.95±0.27) and it was least in LGW (1.28±0.18). The cumulative cocoon number (CCN)/worm for 17 weeks was 33.27, 35.95, 36.77, 21.77, and 48.65 in FAW, PW, CRW, LGW, and CM respectively. Significant difference (P0.05) was also noticed in cocoon production among and between different organic wastes, except between PW & FAW, CRW & FAW and CRW & PW. Based on the results, it can be concluded that biomass, growth rate, attainment of sexual maturity and cocoon production of the epigeic earthworm, E. fetida were influenced much by different organic wastes, that inturn affect on the production of quantity and quality vermicompost and worm multiplication during vermicomposting process. This work also suggests that epigeic earthworms are very much choosy in selection of particular type of organic wastes for their growth, development and cocoon production

Sustainable treatment and nutrient recovery from leafy waste through vermicomposting

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the vermicomposting potential of two cruciferous vegetables' residual biomasses under laboratory conditions. Cabbage and cauliflower residual biomasses were spiked with 60% cow dung and vermicomposted for 90 days. The results showed a decrease in pH (5.3–9.8%), Total Organic Carbon (36.7–42.8%); increase in Electrical Conductivity (33–99.4%) and ash content (144.7–187.8%) after vermicomposting. Significant reduction in C:N ratio (49.5–76.4%) and C:P ratio (62.8–66.04%), increase in Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (49.3–85.3%), Total Available Phosphorus (68.2–98.1%), Total Potassium (91.8–120.3%) were observed. FT-IR spectra of the vermicomposts had lesser band heights and peak intensities than raw materials. This evidenced decomposition of organic compounds and vermicompost stability. Germination Index values was calculated to determine the phytotoxicity level. Earthworms' growth and prolificacy was evaluated in terms of biomass gain, cocoons production and worm growth rate. Finally, it was inferred that cruciferous vegetables' biomass can be used for vermicomposting. The cauliflower residual biomass has shown better decomposition efficiency than cabbage residual biomass.

The potential for increasing the productivity of Indonesian silk farmers

Natural silk is one of the sources of livelihood for rural Indonesians. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, natural silk production has been affected. During the pandemic, the community implements health protocols such as keeping physical distance and physical contact. Meanwhile, the natural silk business is a labor-intensive business that involves a lot of labor, so a strategy is needed in order that silk farmers could continue running their productive business to meet the necessities of life. This paper aims to provide information on the potential for the economic increase of Indonesian silk farmers through sericulture technological applications. The research used desk study, descriptive qualitative, and quantitative methods with the study locations in Sulawesi, Gorontalo, and Java Provinces. The results of the study show that the technology input through the mulberry hybrid and silkworm hybrids can increase farmers’ cocoon production by 21.4% - 36.4% with an increase of silk filament production by 75.4% -358.8% per silkworm box. In addition, the use of mulberry hybrids and standard silkworm rearing room is also a potential for silk farmers to increase the number of silkworms raised with the same resource capital in the form of land ownership area and number of family labor. The application of sericulture technology is indispensable as one of the solutions in increasing the productivity of silk farmers in the pandemic era hence a sustainable socialization of technology is needed.

Effect of major pollutants from motor vehicles on mulberry leaves and food ingestion, assimilation conservation efficiency of mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori Linn.

The present investigation was carried out to ascertain the possible effect of feeding the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. with motor vehicles major pollutant like volatile organic compound, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and green gases polluted mulberry leaves on the food consumption, assimilation and conversion efficiency using silkworm hybrids, SH6 × NB4D2, CSR2 × CSR4, DUN22 × DUN6 and CSR double hybrid in relation to the road pollutant from the National Highway at all over, India. The roads generate vast amount of pollutant which got deposited on the mulberry leaves. Silkworm is essentially monophagous insect feeds solely on mulberry leaves. Impact on the silkworm nutritional indices food consumption, assimilation and conversion efficiency were assessed by rearing the silkworm larvae on air polluted mulberry leaves besides the amount of pollutant deposition on the mulberry leaves was also measured. The food consumption, assimilation and conversion efficiency of the silkworm larvae got significantly reduced in both the IVth as well as in the Vth instar larvae, when they were fed with extreme polluted mulberry leaves as compared to those larvae which were fed with low polluted mulberry leaves. But the effect was more pronounced in the Vth instar as larvae utilize maximum amount of feed in the Vth instar. The reduced conversion efficiency culminated in the decreased average larval weight and average larval weight gain of the silkworm larvae and cocoon production. All the silkworm hybrids register a marked affect when they were fed with extreme polluted mulberry leaves, but CSR2 × CSR4 hybrid was affected most with the CSR double hybrid least affected.