POSSIBILITIES OF ß SITOSTEROL ELIMINATION FROM THE SILKWORM BOMBYX MORI L. ARTIFICIAL DIET COMPOSITION

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigation the possibilities of fully or partly elimination of the ß – sitosterol from the silkworm artificial diet composition. The study has been triple undertaken by the Bulgarian F1 silkworm hybrids G2xV2 x H1xKK, Vratsa 35 x Merefa 2 and RG 90 x (Super 1 x Hesa 2). Each hybrid was examined in two groups – feeding on artificial diet, containing ß-sitosterol (control) and on artificial diet without any ß-sitosterol (experiment). It was detected that the ß – sitosterol presence in the silkworm artificial diet had not influenced significantly the larval and fifth instar duration and silk shell ratio character values, but affected considerably the fresh cocoon weight, as well as decreased to some extent the silk shell weight and fresh cocoon yield by one box of silkworm eggs character values. It was concluded that in the silkworm artificial diet, containing 38 % mulberry leaf powder it’s not necessary to add any ß-sitosterol.