Abstract
The silkworm rearing and growth parameters of 63 multivoltine silkworm accessions under extended period of egg preservation at 5$^{\circ}C$ from 30 days to 45 days were studied. The results indicate that, nine accessions did not respond to extended period of egg preservation at low temperature and the remaining 54 accessions responded to the treatment and three rearings were conducted for comparision with the control; to estimate the effect of prolonged egg preservation at low temperature. The non-parametric tests statistics (Wilcoxon tests) was adopted for comparing the mean performance of treated batches (45 days) over the control (30 days). Highly significant variability was found among the accessions for all the parameters under study. The genetically controlled morphological characters were not altered in the treated batches, which were found to be on par with that of control. However, the total larval duration varied significantly over the control in 51 accessions. Similarly, the fifth age larval duration of 27 accessions showed decreasing trend compared to control. Altogether 41 accessions were found to be tolerant to long-term cold preservation upto 45 days, without showing any significant variation for morphological as well as essential quantitative traits. These accessions may be recommended for long-term egg preservation schedule up to 45 days, which will reduce the cost of conservation of these silkworm germplasm.