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With an aim to find out an effective bed disinfectant regulating disease incidence, larval growth parameters and mortality of mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L. revealed a positive influence on the disease incidence, and larval growth of mulberry silkworm race, (CSR6 × CSR26) × (CSR2 × CSR27). The commercial bed disinfectant, Ankush manifested better result in terms of reduction in disease incidence (1.833 %) and larval parameters (larval duration, 21.888 days; full grown larval weight, 4.596 g; silk gland weight, 0.889 g and 24.181% SGTSI) compared to the control (22.667 days, 3.976 g, 0.817 g and 20.726 %, respectively) followed by Sericillin and Turmeric rhizome powder alone or in combinations. However, a combination of bed disinfectants viz., Ankush + Sericillin, Ankush + Turmeric rhizome powder and Sericillin + Turmeric rhizome powder recorded better results compared to Turmeric rhizome powder alone. Though bed disinfectants did not show any significant effect on mortality percentage but Ankush resulted highest reduction of mortality over control (46.933 %). The performance of all the bed disinfectants was found to be better during the late spring season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted with a sample of 120 sericulture farmers in Kamrup district of Assam in three development blocks viz. Bongaon, Boko and Chayani Borduwa. The study revealed that majority (43.33%) of the respondents belonged to middle age group, 36.67% were illiterate, 45.83% belonged to small size family and 69.17% had pucca house. In case of operational land holding majority (34.17%) of the respondents possessed small size of land holding, 33.95% had annual income ranging from Rs.75,001-1,00,000, 75.00% had medium level of extension contact, 61.67% had moderate level of risk bearing ability, 59.17% had moderate level of decision-making ability and only 23.33% had received training. Most of the respondents (35.00%) practiced "Sericulture +paddy+plantation crops" followed by "Sericulture+paddy+piggery" (15.83%) and "Sericulture+paddy+fruits" (12.50%) as their livelihood options. Education, family size, house type, operational land holding risk bearing ability and decisionmaking ability have significant relationship on livelihood options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muga cocoons were procured from Jorhat, Kamrup and Lakhimpur districts in spring and autumn season. The objective was to determine the impact of three regions and commercial seasons on cocoon characters in terms of cocoon size, cocoon weight, pupal weight, shell weight and shell ratio. The experiment was laid out in completely randomised design with three replications. The impact of three regions and two seasons was found to be significant on cocoon parameters. Large sized cocoons were obtained from Kamrup district followed by Lakhimpur and Jorhat in autumn season compared to those obtained in spring season. Cocoon weight, shell weight, pupal weight and shell ratio percentage (5.73g, 0.51g, 5.19g and 8.74% respectively) were found to be significantly higher in Kamrup as compared to Lakhimpur (5.4g, 0.46g, 4.94g and 8.43% respectively) while lowest was recorded in Jorhat district (5.27g, 0.43g, 4.83g and 8.20% respectively) irrespective of the seasons. Considering the seasons, cocoons obtained from autumn were superior in terms of cocoon characters (5.66g cocoon weight, 0.49g shell weight, 5.16g pupal weight and 8.63% shell ratio) than those of spring season. Kamrup district and autumn season have turned out to be the best region and best season clearly indicating that region and season influences the cocoon characters of muga silkworm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]