Impact of Host Plants on Growth, Development and Economic Characters of Eri Silkworm (Samia ricini Boisd.)

Eri silkworms (Samia ricini Boisd.) are phytophagous insect which feeds on a numbers of host plants. In the present study an effort was made to evaluate the economic characters like larval duration (days), larval weight (g), single cocoon weight (g), pupal weight (g), single shell weight (g), shell ratio (%), effective rate of rearing (ERR %) of two promising eco-races of eri silkworm viz., Titabar and Borduar. The main objective of this study was to highlight the critical role of food plants and eco-race selection in influencing the growth, development and economic viability of eri silkworm rearing. The findings of the present investigation showed that two eco-races of eri silkworm reared on castor leaves found to be performed better in all the parameters followed by borpat and tapioca leaves. The lowest value for all the economic characters were found in both the eco-race reared on borkesseru leaves.