The Experience Using of Freeze-Dried Mulberry Leafs’ as Composition of Artificial Diet for Feeding Silkworm Caterpillars

Aims: Due to changes in the global climate and the recent increase in spring frosts, which lead to the death of silkworm caterpillars of the first ages due to lack of food, there is an urgent need to find effective and cheap means to replace natural food - mulberry leaf. One of the promising methods is the preservation of mulberry leaf. One of the new and progressive methods of preservation is the method of freeze-dried of mulberry leaf, for the basis of artificial diet.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiments were conducted in the laboratory of the Scientific Research Institute of Sericulture in 2024y.

Methodology: After hatching, the caterpillars were fed artificial food based on freeze-dried mulberry leaf, the food was given once a day, the room temperature was 25-26 ° C, humidity 65-70%. When the caterpillars reached the third age, some of the caterpillars of each breed and hybrid were selected and continued to be fed with artificial diet. The remaining caterpillars were transferred to natural leaf feeding according to a generally accepted method.

Results: The drying time of the mulberry leaf in the freeze-dried mode was 14-18 hours, depending on the uniformity of the leaf layer in the chamber. A recipe for artificial diet was created, in which the content of mulberry leaf powder was 72%. All breeds and hybrids equally well received the developed artificial diet. In breeds and hybrids, the viability of caterpillars was 82-100%. And when switching from artificial diet to a natural leaf, the viability of caterpillars was 63-93%.

Conclusion: All breeds and hybrids equally well accepted the developed artificial food based on freeze-dried mulberry leaf. According to the totality of the results shown, the studied breeds and hybrids are promising for feeding them on artificial feed and breeding appropriate lines and breeds from them.