Possibilities for replacing part of the mulberry leaf powder with alfalfa flour and wheat bran in the composition of artificial diet for the silkworm, Bombyx mori L.

The aim of this study was to establish the possibilities for replacing part of the mulberry leaf powder with alfalfa flour and wheat bran in artificial diet for silkworms in order to reduce its cost. The study was conducted at the Scientific Center on Sericulture - Vratsa at the Agricultural Academy during the period 2022- 2025. Two experimental variants were tested, in which the content of mulberry leaf powder in the diet was reduced by 37.5%, by including in its place alfalfa flour and wheat bran. It was found that the inclusion of alfalfa flour in the composition of the artificial diet at the expense of reducing the content of mulberry leaf powder leads to a significant decrease in the values of the characters of vitality of the silkworms, fresh cocoon weight, silk shell weight and silk shell percentage, with a strong extension of the larval period at the expense mainly of the period from feeding the silkworms to the beginning of the fifth instar. The inclusion of wheat bran flour in the composition of the artificial diet at the expense of reducing the content of mulberry leaf powder does not lead to significant differences in the values of the studied quantitative traits duration of the larval period, vitality of the worms and weight of the cocoon and to slightly higher values of the traits weight of the silk shell and its percentage compared to the control. In order to reduce the cost of the artificial diet, it is recommended to include wheat bran flour in the composition at the expense of reducing the content of mulberry leaf powder by 37.50%.