Evaluation of two food additives on Bombyx mori L. characters
Walaa Megahed Mohamed Youssif Helaly
The present investigation was carried out to study the influence of bovine milk and white hen's eggs on some biological, biochemical and technological characters of the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L at the laboratory of Sericulture, Plant Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University during spring season of 2016. Rearing silkworm larvae on mulberry leaves enriched with white hen's eggs induced significant increase in the weight of full-grown larva, silk gland, female pupa as well as cocooning percentage. Bovine milk occupied the second rank in this respect, whereas control larvae gave the least values. Feeding mulberry silkworms on leaves treated with white hen's eggs caused the highest positive significant effects on weights of fresh cocoon (1.100 gm for male and 1.456 gm for female) and shell (0.248 gm for male and 0.290 gm for female) as well as silk filament length (1069.67 m) weight (0.203 gm) and size (1.706 dn). Regarding the biochemical traits white hen's eggs resulted in the highest total protein content in the haemolymph of the 5th larval instar, recording (3.8 g /dI ) while bovine milk caused the highest total lipid haemolyph (265 mg /dI ).