Sea plant extract (Kappaphycus sp) - A boon to sericulture industry

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of sea plant extract sprayed on mulberry plant at different interval of time and the treated leaves were fed to the silkworm Bombyx mori which were infected with BmNPV. It was found that foliar application of sea plant extract, LBS 13 @ 1.5 ml/l on 45th day after pruning enhanced the leaf yield per plant by 308.81 g, average plant height by 150.42 cm, number of shoots (14.32) and leaves per plant (400 leaves) compared with control. When the treated leaves were fed to the BmNPV infected silkworms, LBS13 @ 1.5 ml/lrecorded highest larval weight (3.33 g/ larvae) with larval duration (7.67 days), least larval mortality (3.33 %) and disease incidence (11.33 %) when compared to control. The study evidenced that application of sea plant extract of Kappaphycus sp. has improved the growth attributes of mulberry, which inturn had a direct positive impact on development of B. mori.