Abstract

                                Eri silkworm (Philosamia ricini) is one of the most exploited, domesticated, and commercialized Vanya silkworms. Eri silk yield and productivity depend heavily on the feeds ingested by Eri silkworms, which will vary depending on the feed sources. A study was undertaken to evaluate different castor genotypes viz., GCH 4, GCH 7, DCH 519, TMV 5, along with local variety for the nutritional composition and its influence on the growth and economic attributes of Eri silkworm. The treatments were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The performance of eri silkworm viz., growth attributes, and economic parameters were studied by feeding them with the leaves of five castor genotypes separately in the tray rearing method. The genotypes showed significant differences in growth and economic parameters of eri silkworm. Among the various genotypes, GCH 4 genotypes showed superior among all the other genotypes on nutritional composition, growth attributes, and economic parameters, followed by genotype DCH 519.

Key words : Eri silkworm; Castor genotypes; Nutritional composition; Growth parameters; Economic parameters