• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.8-12
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• 2009

A study has been made to know the effect of a phytoecdysteroid 'Sampoorna' on uniform maturation of silkworms during spinning and its effect on diseased silkworms infected by major silkworm disease viruses, Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) and Bombyx mori infectious flacherie virus (BmIFV). In the present investigation, the effect of the phytoecdysteroid "Sampoorna" on Grasserie disease caused by BmNPV have shown an average cocoon melting of 11.91% with a disease incidence of 5.83%. The values of 't' test for different treatments of BmNPV indicated low survival rate and cocoon traits were drastically reduced. Another major disease Flacherie caused by BmIFV has shown considerable levels of larval disease incidence (22-32%) and cocoon melting (3-7.67%) with an average melting of 12.95% and 20.24% disease incidence. There is a drastic reduction in survival rate, cocoon yield and other economic traits. The control batches were indicated negligible values for disease incidence and cocoon melting with Sapoorna application and without the inoculation of the two disease-causing viruses. The application of Sampoorna on already infected batches with major pathogens triggered high mortality and disease incidence and melting percentage was also significantly increased with reduced economic traits. Hence, it is suggested that application of Sampoorna in infected batches should be done only in the extreme conditions of rearing. Application of Sampoorna on healthy batches led to uniform maturation and improvement in productivity with the added advantage of better quality cocoons and labour saving.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.4
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• pp.63-68
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• 1965

This treatise was carried out to study the hereditary phenomenon of silk lousiness and the interaction of genes related with silk lousiness. It was also studied how to improve the silk lousiness of general raw silk by refining process because the selective process was found as unsatisfactory method. The conclusions reached were as follows. A. Conclusions related with genetic problem. 1. The decreased effects of the lousiness were 11 % in the F$_1$ hybrids. 2. Lousiness was considered to inherit as the incomplete dominance. 3. The effects of the lousiness gene were additive, and the lousiness of raw silk might be influenced by more than two genes. 4. The quantitative characters of cocoons were not genetically correlated with the occurrence of lousiness. 5. Lousiness could not be said to occur more in the heavy-cocoon strains. 6. The microscopic lousiness test of this paper showed the same result of the international exforiation test. B. Conclusions related with lousiness improvement. 1. Raw silk was able to be refined by the employment of 0.2% cationic softener solution for 30 minutes at 95$^{\circ}C$, supressing the occurrence of lousiness. 2. Anionic chemical softener was not available for silk refining process. 3. The above cationic softener refining prosess did not cause any physical defect for the silk fiber. 4. Soap refining process caused silk lousiness easily.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2006

A breeding programme was initiated during 2001 to introduce sex-limited larval markings to a productive multivoltine breed - BL67 from an inbred sex-limited line, MY1 (SL) maintained at Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore. Introgressive hybridization, recurrent backcrossing for six generations followed by sib-mating resulted in synthesis of a new multivoltine silkworm breed BL67 (SL) with sex-limited larval markings. The new breed was studied for combining ability by crossing with eight bivoltine breeds viz., $NB_4D_2,\;CSR_2,\;CSR_2 (SL),\;CSR_2,\;CSR_4,\;CSR_8,\;CSR_{18}\;and\;CSR_{19}$. General combining ability effects of the new breed showed its superiority over the popular Pure Mysore by expressing significant GCA effects for six out of twelve characters whereas the results are on par with the original multivoltine breed. The hybrid $BL67(SL){\times}CSR2(SL)$ excelled in several quantitative characters such as pupation rate (90.2%), cocoon weight (1.97 g), cocoon shell weight (40 cg), cocoon shell ratio (20.3%), filament length (918 m), denier (2.96), raw silk percentage (14.96%) and neatness (90 p). Studies on cocoon size variability revealed that the cocoons of $BL67(SL){\times}CSR2(SL)$ were found comparatively uniform showing less standard deviation of 6.55 and co-efficient of variation of 3.91 %. The suitability of newly developed breed for easy grain age operation and commercial exploitation with promising hybrid have been discussed.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2003

We describe the generation of transgenic silkworm that carrying the chimeric fibroin light chain (L-chain) gene. Previously, we have cloned the complete fibroin L-chain gene from the silkworm Baekok-Jam, Bombyx mori, and the complete fibroin gene from the oak silkworm, Antheraea yamamai. The 444 bp repetitive sequence of A. yamamai fibroin gene was inserted into the exon 6 of B. mori fibroin L-chain gene to produce chimeric fibroin L-chain gene. The chimeric fibroin L-chain gene was cloned into the polyhedrin gene site of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) to yield a recombinant baculovirus as a fibroin gene targeting vector, One-day-old fifth instar female silkworm larvae were injected with the recombinant baculovirus and then mated with normal male moths. Genomic DNA from their progenies was extracted and screened for the desired targeting event by using PCR and Southern blot analysis. The analysis showed that the chimeric fibroin gene had intergrated into the L-chain gene on the genome by homologous recombination and was transmitted through generations. The transgenic silkworm carrying the chimeric fibroin gene were approximately 43.2% in $F_2$ generation, and the silkworms synthesized the fusion protein in cocoons layer.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.7
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• pp.49-52
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• 1967

In the F$_1$ hybrids and parents of silkworms, the silkworms of 47 blocks in summer and 68 blocks in fall in 1965 were reared in order to know the effect of mortality on the difference of sex ratio. The results analyzed are as follows; 1. In Moran of Japanese strain-parent and Morean x Daedong of F$_1$ hybrid, there is of no effect of an increase and decrease of mortality on the sex ratio. So male is not always stronger than female. 2. In Daedong of Chinese strain-parent, the more the mortality in the blocks is, the higher the survival ratio of male pupa becomes. (Y=0.233x-41.67). 3. As the results mentioned above, the present investigation method of cocoon quality of Chinese strains with the same number of cocoons of both sexes will have to be considered again, according to the cocoon crops, as far as concerned with the reasonable sampling from the population.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.147-151
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• 2005

Serious attempt for the improvement of quality parameters in silkworm hybrids came rather very late in India. Realising the need for productive breeds to the field and reorientation in breeding methodology, the silkworm breeders of CSRTI, Mysore were able to develop silkworm breeds with fine denier namely, JPN7, CSR48, B63 and B65 of specific industrial requirement through directional selection. As the success of silkworm breeds mainly depends on their combining ability, the developed breeds were subjected for hybrid evaluation. Out of 42 bivoltine hybrids studied, one hybrid, $CSR48{\times}CSR5$ was identified for its superiority over the existing bivoltine hybrids namely $CSR2{\times}CSR4,\;CSR2{\times}CSR5\;and\;CSR18{\times}CSR19$ for majority of qualitative traits. Post cocoon testing of large quantity of cocoons of $CSR48{\times}CSR5$ resulted in the production of high quality '3A'grade silk. It is for the first time in the Indian Sericulture industry that high quality silk with longer filament length of 1474 m, denier of 2.47, standard size deviation of 0.983 d, maximum size deviation of 1.322, neatness of 96 p, reelability of $85\%$, tenacity of 3.87 g/d, elongation of $22.32\%$ and cohesion of 110 strokes was produced. The superiority of fine denier silkworm breeds and their hybrids are discussed.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.29-33
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• 1973

This experimental work was carried out to examine the relation between the filament characteristic and the tensile property of various cocoon varieties. Cocoons of 21 varieties were used as materials, from which, bave denier (X$_1$), sericin solubility (X$_2$), tenacity (Y$_1$), elongation (Y$_2$), and Young's modulus (Y$_3$) were tested. The formulae estimating tensile properties with denier and sericin solubility are as follows: A) In case of denier. Y$_1$= -0.4X$_1$＋5.03 Y$_2$=1.2X$_1$＋2.7 Y$_3$= -25.2X$_1$＋140.95 B) In case of sericin solubility Y$_1$= -2.4X$_2$＋3.43 Y$_2$=20X$_2$＋3.7 Y$_3$= -120X$_2$＋78.37.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2017

Increased alcohol consumption is a burden on the world because it is associated with various health problems. However, the effects of silkworms on alcohol metabolism have not been studied yet. The hard-to-eat mature silkworms have become easier to ingest recently due to the development of technology, steam-lyophilising mature silkworm larvae. In this study, we investigated and compared the effects of SMSPs from three silkworm varieties, Baekokjam, Golden-silk and Yeonnokjam weaving white, golden, and light green cocoons on alcohol metabolism in vivo. Sprague-Dawley rats pretreated with three SMSPs (0.1 g/kg or 1 g/kg body weight) or normal diet (AIN-76A) for 2 weeks were subjected to intragastric administration of absolute ethanol (3 g/kg body weight, 3 h). Three SMSPs did not affect the final body weight and liver weight. All 3 SMSPs were effective to reduce the enzymes in alcohol metabolism, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), and liver damage and enzymes involved in liver damage, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Among SMSP from 3 varieties of silkworm, preadministration of 1 g/kg Baekokjam SMSP showed the most effective suppressive effect on the activities of ADH, ALDH, AST and ALT. The Baekokjam SMSP contained higher amounts of beneficial amino acids than Golden-silk or Yeonnokjam SMSP. These results suggest that Baekokjam SMSP might be used as a new and promising candidate for improving alcohol metabolism and liver injury through promoting rapid alcohol metabolism.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.112-119
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• 1998

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of bulking agents including cow manure, saw dust and rice straw in the ripening of leather sludge for vermistabilization. The changes of the waste properties for ripening time for 50 days were observed according to the various mixture ratios of leather sludge and bulking agents. The pH values of the mixture wastes were decreased from 7.5-8.0 to 6.4-7.3 with the ripening time for 50 days, and it was indifferent of the mixture ratio and type of the bulking agent. The initial value of oxidation-reduction potential(Eh) of the mixture waste was a negative(-)value indicating an unfavorable condition for earthworm life, but the values of Eh were increased with the ripening time. The increase rate of Eh value was proportional to the mixture ratio of bulking agents, but the increase rate for saw dust was higher than that of the cow manure and the rice straw. The value of alkalinity was also changed into the favorable range for earthworm after 50 days except for 10% of the mixture ratio of the bulking agents. When the mixture ratios of the bulking agents were increased from 10% to 40%, the growth characteristics of earthworms were increased from 31.7% to 95% for the survival rate, 103% to 225% for the liveweight increase rate and 32% to 91% for hatching rate of the cocoons. It can be concluded that the proper content of the bulking agents in the leather sludge to ensure effective vermistabilization was over 30%, when the mixture was ripened during 50 days. The contents of heavy metals in the ripened sludge were lower than the other regulatory standards for compost.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.488-492
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• 2007

The influence of additive materials including saw dust and cow manure in the ripening of leather sludge for the efficient vermisabilization was studied. The ripening characteristics of the leather sludge, the growth of earthworms in the growth bed and the by-products like cast were observed according to the mixing ratio of additive materials. When the mixed leather sludge of which the additive materials contents were over 20% were ripened for 50 days, the values of ORP and alkalinity were changed to the favorable ranges for earthworms, the positive (+) and below 1,000 mg/l as $CaCO_3$, respectively. The velocity of ripening improving the characteristics of the leather sludge was faster in the sludge mixed with cow manure than saw dust. This results could also be verified from the monitoring of the states of earthworm growth using the survival rate, the increase rate of lifeweight and the hatching rate of earthworm cocoon in the their growth bed packed with the ripened sludge. The values of CEC in cast, the vermi-stabilized sludge, were increased with the mixing ratio of additive materials, but the content of heavy metals was drcreased by the dilution effect and accumulation in the earthworm body. Above results show that the leather sludge might be efficiently stabilized by earthworms through the ripening for 50 days using additive materials. Cow manure can be used as a good additive materials for leather sludge as much as saw dust, and the optimum content of additive materials in the well-ripened leather sludge was about 30%.