Global Journal of Biology, Agriculture & Health Sciences

Abstract

Rearing and Grainage Performances of A. Frithi under In Situ and Ex Situ Conditions in Manipur (North East India)

S. Subharani, L Bidyapati Devi,Alok Sahay

Antheraea frithi Moore (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) is an endemic species in Manipur and its commercial characters of cocoons are at par with that of A. proylei. It is naturally bivoltine and is subject to certain constraints like prolonged grainage span, unsynchronization of adult moth emergence leading to low coupling incidence and low survivability . Hence, attempt was made to study the rearing and grainage performances of A. frithi to establish a standardized method of rearing and grainage practices for better crop production and sustainability. Grainage performances viz. emergence %, coupling %, fecundity etc were higher under in situ conditions than ex situ. The development and adoption of appropriate grainage models and techniques will surely increase the coupling tendency and enhance the dfl production of A. frithi. Further, studies on the rearing performances of A. frithi also indicated that hatching %, ERR, cocoon weight, shell weight, silk ratio in in situ were better than ex situ conditions

Published Date: 2015-10-11;