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The nutritive value of mulberry leaves makes it the only food of silkworms (Bombyx mori L.). It is recorded that 6.73 million hectares of area are affected by salinity and sodicity stresses covering various states of the country, which is becoming one of the major threats to popularizing sericulture in India. In the present study, chlorophyll, protein, catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase content of leaves of six mulberry germplasm viz., English Black, Kolitha-3, C776, Rotundiloba, BC259, and S1 grown under coastal saline soils of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India was investigated. Results demonstrated a sharp decrease in the chlorophyll (2.35 to1.19 mg.g FW-1) and protein (30.10 to 15.20 mg.g FW-1) contents of leaves of all the mulberry germplasm with increasing soil salinity (1.60 to 22.70 dS.m-1). On the contrary, the number of stress-related antioxidant enzymes like catalase, peroxidases, and superoxide dismutase increased from 1.15 to 5.43, 1.43 to 4.76, and 8.65 to 25.15 g-1 FW.min-1, respectively. Overall, the field study indicated the superiority of Kolitha-3 and C776 grown in Canning (Canning I and II), Basanti, Namkhana, Kakdwip, and Sagar blocks of coastal regions of South 24 Parganas. The study deals with issues of the utilization of scarce land promoting income-generating avenues like sericulture in saline areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-five promising salt-tolerant mulberry germplasms from different Morus species were evaluated for growth under varying salinity levels (10.20–25.60 dS m−1) typical of the coastal regions in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Evaluations were conducted using in vitro axillary bud culture and field experiments under natural conditions to identify superior salt-tolerant germplasms. Soil sample analysis revealed significant variation in salinity levels (34.37–17.09 dS m−1) across different areas, with the highest in Kultali and the lowest in Canning I and II. Among the 25 germplasms, 6 were identified as highly salt-tolerant, 6 as moderately high salt-tolerant, 11 as salt-tolerant, and 2 as salt-sensitive. Survivability rate and root length were found to have the highest correlation with salt tolerance during early development. The six highly salt-tolerant germplasms, including English Black, Kolitha-3, C776, Rotundiloba, BC259, and S1 were further tested in field trials. English Black showed the highest survivability rate of 69.2 % in soil salinity of 18–20 dS m−1. Results from in vitro and field trials were consistent, with a strong positive correlation between survivability rate and root length. This study establishes an effective method for evaluating salt tolerance in mulberry, providing a foundation for more efficient assessments.

Twenty-five promising salt-tolerant mulberry germplasms from different Morus species were evaluated for growth under varying salinity levels (10.20-25.60 dS m -1 ) typical of the coastal regions in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Evaluations were conducted using in vitro axillary bud culture and field experiments under natural conditions to identify superior salt-tolerant germplasms. Soil sample analysis revealed significant variation in salinity levels (34.37-17.09 dS m -1 ) across different areas, with the highest in Kultali and the lowest in Canning I and II. Among the 25 germplasms, 6 were identified as highly salt-tolerant, 6 as moderately high salt-tolerant, 11 as salt-tolerant, and 2 as salt-sensitive. Survivability rate and root length were found to have the highest correlation with salt tolerance during early development. The six highly salt-tolerant germplasms, including English Black, Kolitha-3, C776, Rotundiloba, BC 2 59, and S1 were further tested in field trials. English Black showed the highest survivability rate of 69.2 % in soil salinity of 18-20 dS m -1 . Results from in vitro and field trials were consistent, with a strong positive correlation between survivability rate and root length. This study establishes an effective method for evaluating salt tolerance in mulberry, providing a foundation for more efficient assessments., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Improvement of mulberry (crop) depends on the availability of suitable parents and breeders' thorough knowledge on the database of mulberry germplasm. To develop suitable varieties which are tolerant to stress condition in different agro climatic regions and resistant to pest and diseases, broad spectrum genetic variability is a pre-requisite. In this study, a total of 628 mulberry accessions were collected from 23 different countries and classified into 5 geographical groups, based on the qualitative and quantitative database. The grouping represented tropical wet (237), tropical dry (121), sub-tropical humid (215), semi-arid (10), arid (04), highland (25) and others (16). A core collection was made to compare the data, following the combined cluster analysis. The K-clustering procedure was followed to classify the mulberry accessions and 10 clusters were formed. The results indicated that cluster VIII had more number of accessions (125), whereas cluster II was minimum (27). In other clusters, mulberry accessions were distributed randomly irrespective of geographical origin and genetic diversity. Based on the geographical origin, genetic diversity and avoiding repetitiveness, a core collection was developed for the utilization of mulberry crop improvement programme in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-five indigenous mulberry germplasm were evaluated for growth and yield traits in a partial balanced lattice design at Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India. The leaf yield performance showed high variation among the mulberry accessions. Analysis of variance on growth and yield showed significant variation among the accessions for all the traits. Seasonal variation was also observed in respect of leaf yield. The interaction between accession and season was highly significant for all traits. The coefficient of variation was maximum for single leaf weight (36.32%) and minimum for leaf moisture content (2.08%). The correlation coefficient analysis indicated significant association of leaf yield and other growth traits. The number of branches per plant, length of the longest shoot, total shoots length, leaf moisture content and leaf moisture retention capacity showed associations at different levels of significance with leaf yield. Other traits showed complex relationships with each other. Divergence analysis grouped 25 indigenous mulberry accessions into 7 clusters. Maximum accessions were grouped in cluster I (6 acc.) followed by cluster II (5 acc.) V (5 acc.), VII (4 acc.), IV (3 acc.) and minimum one each in cluster III and VI. The diversity among the accessions measured by inter-cluster distance (D2) showed variation. The cluster group indicates that mulberry accessions were distributed in different clusters irrespective of geographical distribution. The CIMMYT selection index shows that mulberry accession MI-0416 performed better among the accessions studied followed by MI-0308, MI-0376, MI-0437 and MI-0310. Other accessions showed higher index value that is less suitable for selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]