• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 1995

Studies were carried out to report breeding procedure and characteristics of Fb, a strain of silkworm with abnormal food habit polyphagous. Selection was continued up to the 14th generation toward higher incidence of cabbage leaves feeding variants. In the autumn of 1992(7th generation), selected strain were subjected to severe selection by feeding them on artificial diet that did not contain mulberry leaf powder. The results were clearly positive and reached to higher than 95% of cabbage feeding in the 14th generation. This strain was first discovered by feeding cabbage leaves, but later they were observed to eat some kind of plants like lettuce, Chinese cabbage, radish, beet, apple, persimmon, pear, etc. As described above the procedure, cabbage feeding trait was clearly heritable. The strain responsible for this traits was named Fb.