Vol. 9, Issue 8, Part G (2025)

The present study explored the effect of varied levels of Moringa oleifera leaf powder (T₁-T₅) and distilled water (T₆) on castor leaves consumed by Samia ricini with T₇ as the absolute control. Important economic characteristics such as mature larval weight, cocoon weight, pupal weight, shell weight, shell ratio, and silk productivity were affected by moringa supplementation. Highest values in most of the parameters were obtained with the T₅ treatment (1.0% M. oleifera), with the larvae attaining a weight of > 22 g, cocoon weight of ~14 g, and pupal weight of ~9 g, reflecting enhanced digestion and physiological efficiency. T₃ (0.6%) showed maximum shell ratio, whereas T₅ showed better silk productivity.
Biochemical analysis indicated that T₂ (0.4%) and T₃ (0.6%) contained the highest concentration of proteins in haemolymph (~85 mg/ml and ~75 mg/ml, respectively), while the fat body and silk gland showed maximum protein accumulation in T₅. Carbohydrate content was maximum in T₅ with the fat body recording ~28 mg/g followed by elevated concentrations in the haemolymph and silk glands, indicating higher metabolic activity. Correlation analysis identified high positive correlations between fat body carbohydrate content and principal economic characters such as larval weight (r = 0.785*), cocoon weight (r = 0.939**), pupal weight (r = 0.908**), and productivity in silk (r = 0.886**). Haemolymph carbohydrate, however, demonstrated negative correlation with these characters. Protein concentrations in the tissues did not correlate significantly with the economic traits.
These results reveal that 1.0% Moringa oleifera diet supplementation significantly improves eri silkworm growth, silk production, and metabolic activity mainly through the improvement of carbohydrate reserves in fat body and haemolymph. M. oleifera thus holds great promise as a natural solution for enhancing the commercial traits of S. ricini in ecologically friendly sericulture operations.