Identification of Potential Crossbreeds of Mulberry Silkworm, Bombyx mori L. and Their Performance Under Tropical Stress

The performance of five newly evolved cross breeds were evaluated across seasons to understand the genotype and environment interactions and their stability under fluctuating tropical environmental conditions along with control hybrids PM×CSR2 and APM1×APS8. The data was collected on eight economic traits namely fecundity, yield per 10,000 larvae by number, yield per 10,000 larvae by weight, survival rate, cocoon weight, cocoon shell weight, cocoon shell ratio and filament length. The data was subjected for Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and relevant statistical methods. The performance data obtained was further subjected for multiple trait evaluation index method. The ranks were adjudicated based on the index values. The two hybrids viz., MSO3×APS45 and APS12 performed well under diversified environmental conditions indicating their overall stability and superiority. These hybrids revealed highly significant (p less than 0.01) improvement for the majority of the traits over the control hybrids.