Research on Original Young Silkworms Reared with Pellet Artificial Diet

Through investigating the habit of six kinds of original silkworm varieties and two kinds of crossbreed silkworm varieties reared with pellet artificial diet,we studied the effect of pellet artificial diet on the development progress,the ability of laying eggs and the ratio of transform from mulberry leaves to eggs of four kinds of original silkworm varieties within 1～2 instars.The results indicated that there were remarkable differences among the feeding habits of silkworms varieties reared with pellet artificial diet.The 24 h setae dispersion rate of the crossbreed silkworms is higher than that of original silkworms,Japanese varieties higher than Chinese varieties.The growth duration of instar of original young silkworms reared with pellet artificial diet in 1～3 instars is more longer than that of the silkworms reared with mulberry leaves in all instars,but in the 5th instar the growth of the silkworms reared with pellet artificial diet speeds up,so the difference of the instar growth duration of the silkworms reared with different diets reduces.There was no obviously effect of the pellet artificial diet on the life-force of pupae when silkworms were young,whose whole cocoon weight were higher than the silkworms reared with the mulberry leaves in all instars,but the ratio of cocoon shell was lower than the contrast.The eggs amount of silkworms reared with pellet artificial diet within the 1～2 instars was little lower than that of silkworms reared with mulberry leaves in all instars,but the ratio of eggs laid by the single moth decreased remarkably,so the average amount of laying eggs was almost the same with that of silkworms reared with mulberry leaves in all instars,and there was no obviously difference of the ratio of eggs in good quality between them.Amount of ingested dry diet of the silkworm reared with pellet artificial diet in 5th instar was totally lower than that of silkworms reared with mulberry leaves in all instars,which reduced 11.0% for the four varieties in average,the ratio of transform from mulberry leaves to eggs increased 15.6% in average than that with mulberry leaves reared in all instars.