Influence of Different Mulberry (Morus spp.) Varieties on Rearing Performance of Mulberry Silkworms (Bombyx mori L.) (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) in Melkassa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia

Growth, development and yield of silkworms depend on the availability and supply of preferred host plants with required nutritional characteristics. Since mulberry silkworms feed only on mulberry leaves and the mulberry varieties will vary nutritionally, different mulberry varieties will have variable influence on the performance of mulberry silkworms. Therefore, this experiment was conducted with an objective to know the influence of different mulberry varieties on rearing performance of mulberry silkworms. In the present study, six different mulberry varieties (K-2, S-13, M-4, Nekemte, Jimma and local check) were evaluated for their effect on a bivoltine mulberry silkworm (Bombyxmori L.) in Melkassa Agricultural Research Center (MARC), East- Shewa zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The experiment was arranged in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Two hundred worms were used in each treatment. As a result, significant difference was obtained in rearing performance of mulberry silkworms when leaves of these mulberry varieties were served as feed material. Among mulberry varieties fed to mulberry silkworm, a variety named S-13 was found to be superior as compared to others by revealing a silkworm rearing performance characters of 2.5303 g matured larval weight, 1.11167 g cocoon weight, 0.92433 g pupal weight, 0.187 g shell weight and 16.822 % silk ratio, 81.5 % effective rate of rearing (ERR), 305.467 eggs as fecundity and 70.0 % hatchability of eggs. The variety named K-2 was also found to be the 2nd best choice next to S-13 from this experiment. Thus, the result obtained by feeding varieties known by S-13 and K-2will help for improving the rearing performance of mulberry silkworms with emphasis to economic traits and therefore they are recommended for further research and development works of mulberry sericulture in Ethiopia