Author(s): Sanna Parvez, Dr. Zia ul Haque Rufaie, Dr. Shabir Ah Bhat, Dr. Shakeel Ah Mir, Dr. Shaheen Gul, Dr. Ishtiyaq Ahad and Salib Shafi

Abstract: The present investigation was carried out at Division of Sericulture Crop Improvement of College of Temperate Sericulture, Mirgund and Division of Basic Science and Humanities, of Faculty of Horticulture, SKUAST-Kashmir, Shalimar during the year 2021 and 2022. Rearing of twelve bivoltine mulberry silkworm breeds(6 plain) namely CSR17, CSR50, CSR27, CSR52, SK7, SK6 and (6 marked) namely SK4, BHR3, CSR26, CSR53, M46 and Sanish 8 were used in this study. During these seasons (spring and autumn) CSR26 breed excelled in most of the parameters excluding fecundity which was highest i.e 590.721 and 567.667 eggs/ laying recorded in Sanish 8. In case of larval characters the CSR26 breed recorded lowest desirable total larval duration of 27.120 and 29.025 days, highest larval weight of 46.097 and 42.885 g, highest silk gland weight of 1.556 and 1.482 g, highest silk gland tissue somatic index of 33.755 and 34.574 %,. In case of other commercial characters of cocoons the highest cocoon yield of 9260.266 and 8841.950 per 10,000 larvae by number, highest cocoon yield of 16.938 and 15.381 kg per 10,000 larvae by weight, highest pupation rate of 93.580 and 90.954%, highest cocoon weight of 1.840 and 1.792 g, highest shell weight of 0.379 and 0.343g, highest shell percentage of 20.597 and 19.173 % highest hatching percentage of 96.283 and 91.743 % was also recorded in CSR 26. In case of post cocoon parameters the highest filament length of 1015.167 and 956.728m, lowest desirable denier of 2.237 and 2.152, highest raw silk percentage of 16.663 and 15.413 % was recorded in CSR26 during both the seasons respectively. Among the twelve breeds which were taken for studies CSR26 performed best followed by M46 and BHR3 breed which is a marked breed. However among the plain breeds CSR27 breed is at the top followed by CSR50 and CSR17.

DOI: 10.33545/26174693.2024.v8.i2Sa.501