GROWTH, FECUNDITY AND HATCHABILITY OF EGGS OF BOMBYX-MORI L IN RELATION TO REARING SPACE

An experiment was carried out under the climatic condition in the plains of West Bengal following Japanese, Indian and Chinese spacing schedules for bivoltine silkworm, Bombyx mori L., to find out the growth of different developmental stages, number of eggs laid and hatching performance of bivoltine hybrid 'NB18' x 'P5'. Results revealed that among the spacing schedules, wider spacing as per Chinese recommendation played a significant (P < 0.05) and positive role for improvement of larval, pupal and imaginal weight, fecundity and hatching performance of eggs, whereas crowded condition was found to be detrimental reflected by Japanese spacing schedule. Indian spacing schedule exhibited the performance in between Japanese and Chinese except for the hatching potentiality.