Current Science

N. A. Ganie ¹, Afifa S. Kamili ¹, K. A. Sahaf ¹, Imtiyaz Murtaza ², K. A. Dar ¹, M. A. Malik ¹

Affiliations
1 Temperate Sericulture Research Institute, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Jammu-181 002, IN
2 Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory, Division of PHT, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar Campus, Srinagar 190 025, IN

Abstract

In the current study amylase activity was carried out by analysis of digestive fluid in diapausing and nondiapausing strains of mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L. Six different breeds, viz. Pure Mysore, Nistari, NB₄D₂, SH₆, SKAUR₆ and SKUAST₂₈ were selected for the study. The average digestive amylase activity was found highest in Nistari during spring (664.82 μg) and summer (993.97 μg) seasons. However, among the bivoltine breeds SKUAST-28 with the average amylase activity during spring (148.47 μg) and summer (144.04 μg) seasons was found to be a superior breed with respect to this parameter. The amylase activity in tropical non-diapausing breeds is higher than that in the bivoltine breeds of silkworm which is responsible for their higher survival rate under unfavourable conditions.

Keywords

Amylase Activity, Bombyx mori L., Diapuasing and Non-Diapausing Strains, Maltose, Survival.

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