Effect of Some Nutritional Supplements on Biological and Productive Characteristics of Silkworm, Bombyx mori L.

The silkworm, Bombyx mori L. is an important silk-producing insect. Mulberry leaves are considered the only nutritional source of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, fats, and minerals needed for this insect to produce silk. This study was conducted during the summer 2022 at Silkworm Laboratory of the Scientific Agricultural Research Center in Latakia. It aimed to investigate the effect of fortifying mulberry leaves with aqueous extracts of some nutritional supplements: Citrus sp. pollen, probiotic fortified with vitamins, Althaea sp. extract, Azolla sp. extract and Aloe vera extract on biological characteristics and productivity of silkworm B. mori. Fourth and fifth instar larvae were fed mulberry leaves treated with nutritional supplement extracts. The results obtained confirmed the effectiveness of nutritional supplements in improving biological characteristics and productivity compared to the control. The highest larval weight (5.44 g) was for silkworms fed with mulberry leaves fortified with pollen. The highest effective rearing rate (ERR%), cocoon weight and female fecundity rate were 97.70%, 1.81g, 618.2 eggs/female, respectively, in response to probiotics treatment. In addition, all fortified feeding treatments were significantly superior to the control in terms of silk ratio, filament length, weight, and size which reached 19.18-19.88%, 1389-1511 m and 1.85-1.929 denier, respectively. Keywords: Silkworm, nutritional supplements, biological characteristics, productivity.