Comprehensive assessment of pivotal silkworm races for economic trails in Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract

The present study aims for a comparative study including performance and stability of parental lines Shogetsu Hosho, Shunrei Shogetsu and N124xC124. The economic traits of the three selected silkworm races evaluated revealed that fecundity in Shogetsu Hosho ranged from 424 to 600 eggs, in Shunrei Shogetsu it was 478–611 and in N124xC124 it ranged 438–565. The yield per 10,000 larvae by weight in Shogetsu Hosho ranged from 11.74 to15.64 kg, while in Shunrei Shogetsu it was 13.16–17.57 and in N124xC124 it ranged 11.99–16.65. Single cocoon weight was in the range of 1.38–1.62, 1.50–1.98, 1.44–1.95g, respectively for Shogetsu Hosho, Shunrei Shogetsu and N124xC124 races. The single shell weight raged from 0.28 to 0.34g in Shogetsu Hosho, 0.30–0.38g in Shunrei Shogetsu and 0.27–0.31g in N124xC124 races. The silk ratio percentage was in the range of 18.18–22.37, 17.51–20.65, 14.36–20.96, respectively for Shogetsu Hosho, Shunrei Shogetsu and N124xC124 races. All races exhibited a moderate range of egg-laying capacity, with Shunrei Shogetsu showing the highest potential (up to 611 eggs), followed by Shogetsu Hosho (up to 600) and N124xC124 (up to 565 eggs per moth). Cumulative evaluation index values of the three races were found to be in the order of Shunrei Shogetsu followed by Shogetsu Hosho and N124xC124. Stability varied among traits and silkworm races. N124xC124 was found to be stable (value close to one) for fecundity (0.81) and single cocoon weight (1.06), while Shogetsu Hosho showed stability for effective rate of rearing (0.99). The Francis coefficient of variation for fecundity placed Shunrei Shogetsu in the fourth quadrant, indicating a higher mean with low variation, followed by Shogetsu Hosho in the third quadrant (high mean and high variation) and N124xC124 in the first quadrant (low mean and low variation), indicating comparatively greater stability in Shunrei Shogetsu. Similarly, for ERR, N124xC124 appeared in the fourth quadrant, followed by Shunrei shogetsu (third quadrant) and Shogetsu Hosho (second quadrant). For single cocoon weight (SCW), the order was Shunrei Shogetsu (third quadrant) and both N124xC124 and Shogetsu Hosho in the first quadrant. In the case of single shell weight (SSW), Shunrei Shogetsu occupied the third quadrant, Shogetsu Hosho spanned the second and third quadrants and N124xC124 was in the first quadrant. For shell ratio (SR), Shunrei Shogetsu was in the fourth quadrant, followed by Shogetsu Hosho (third quadrant) and N124xC124 (second quadrant). Overall, Shunrei Shogetsu showed better stability across most traits, followed by Shogetsu Hosho and N124xC124. However, when all three methods used are ranked according to the traits, ranked according to Shogetsu Hosho, followed by Shunrei Shogetsu and N124XC124.