SEM studies on the leaf surface of promising mulberry (Morus spp.) genotypes

Abstract

Mulberry (Morus spp.) leaf quality has a great role in silkworm rearing which in turn affects the overall silk yield. In the recent past, many varieties of mulberry have been evolved considering the morphological characters, growth, yield, and quality parameters based on bioassay. The present investigation was carried out on ten promising mulberry 8enotypes viz. Tr-10, 1(-2, 5-36, S-54, S-1, V-l, Mysore local, S-13, S-34, and RFS-135 to characterize stomatal size and frequency, trichomes and idioblasts using SEM. These new parameters will provide useful information for cultivars identification as well as for selecting mulberry genotypes adapted to different eco-dimatic conditions and assessing the feeding quality of leaf for silkworm rearin~

Leaf Surface Scanning Electron Microscopy of 16 Mulberry Genotypes (Morus spp.) with Respect to their Feeding Value in Silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) Rearing

“…It is mainly due to congenial climatic conditions and many high yielding mulberry genotypes evolved time to time. These genotypes have been characterized for leaf surface parameters under tropical climatic conditions (Singhal et al, 1999) which is serving research as a useful tool for mulberry improvement programs. But, the sub-tropical India still contributes to only less than 1% of the total country's silk production due to very limited number of mulberry genotypes available for silkworm rearing.…”