Sehrish Akram¹, Shakil Ahmad Khan², Fakhar- un- Nisa¹, Mubashar Hussain*³, Maimoona Kanwal³, Fatima Zafar³

¹Govt. College Women University Lahore, Pakistan, ²Sericulture Research Laboratory, Lahore, Pakistan

³University of Gujrat, Pakistan 

Abstract

The impact of different levels of the Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D₃) supplementation on silkworm larvae was evaluated by rearing under controlled conditions of temperature, relative humidity and photoperiod (25 ± 1 °C, 75 ± 5 % and 16:08 h of light to darkness ratio, respectively) at Sericulture Research Laboratory, Lahore, Pakistan. Larvae were fed on mulberry leaves of “Chinese Husung” variety supplemented with vitamin ‘D₃’@ 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 % solutions. The significant increment in larval length (2.81, 4.17 and 5.91 cm in D_{3 (2%)} as compared to 2.69, 3.79 and 5.56 cm in control) were recorded in 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th instars, respectively. The results also delineated significant variations in larval weight (0.39, 1.0 and 2.81 g in D_{3 (2%)} as compared to 0.28, 0.78 and 2.54 g in control, during 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th instars, respectively). Larval food consumption recorded during 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th instars showed significantly higher mean values (2.63, 3.23 and 4.43 g in D_{3 (2%)} as compared to control (2.26, 2.60 and 2.74 g), respectively. The dietary supplementation also affected cocoon weight (1.39 g) and Shell Weight (0.33 g) and consequently Cocoon Shell percentage (23.74 %) recorded in D_{3 (2%)} in comparison with 1.25 g, 0.24 g and 19.2 % in control, respectively. The results indicated improvement in better food consumption, larval weight and length and cocoon production when mulberry leaves supplemented with D_3. The study highlighted the significance of dietary supplementation with vitamin D₃ of “Chinese Husung” mulberry variety for rearing of silkworm.

 Keywords: Larval Length, Cocoon Weight, D₃, Mulberry, Sericulture Pakistan