Evaluation of soil fertility and mulberry leaf quality on silkworm rearing and cocoon characteristics.

Soil samples were collected from six different mulberry growing areas of Malnad region of Karnataka and analyzed for the soil fertility and leaf quality parameters. The influence of soil nutrient status on mulberry plant growth and leaf quality with regard to five varieties M5, DD, S54, S36 and V1 and the overall impact on silkworm larval growth and cocoon characteristics were studied in detail. It was observed that the six sampling areas differed significantly in the parameters analyzed. Variety V1 from Kadur region showed the best result among all the five varieties grown in six sampling areas.