BIVOLTINE RACE AND

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Arrange the required number of mountages well in advance and also mount the worms
when they are fully mature. Any negligence at this stage is bound to cost the rearer
heavily.
Mount spinning worms by hand picking or shoot shaking followed by self mounting. Each
method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Pick the matured silkworms individually by hand inhand picking method. The advantage
of this method is properly matured worms alone can be collected. This method is time
consuming.
In the case of shoot.shaking method, when 30Vo of the silkworms have become matured,
the shoot to which they are attached is shaken by haird or vibrated mechanically to shake
off the silkworms and to collect them on a cocooning frame.
During self mounting, silkworm larvae attached to mulberry shoots are shaken before
optimum mounting stage and the larvae are again reared on a bed. Then at the time of
mounting, the cocoon frame is placed over the rearing bed so that the matured larvae
can climb up. This method is advantageous because the labour requirement is not more
on the day of mounting. However, the disadvantages are that after shoot shaking,
mulberry harvest or feeding, space and labour are needed for preparing new rearing
beds.
Use only clean and disinfected mountages.
Mount about 30 - 40larvae /sq.ft.
Use bamboo or plastic bottle brush or plastic collapsible mountages for seed cocoorV
reeling cocoon production. However, in order to decrease the defective cocoons, such
as soiled cocoons, mountage pressed cocoons, double cocoons etc., to improve the
cocoon quality and to facilitate the adoption of free mounting method for the purpose
of saving labour and to increase the reelability of commercial cocoons use rotary card
board mountage (Figs. 7-9).
Cover the plastic mountages with nylon or cotton net soon after mounting (Basic stock
multiplication centre and Silkworm Breeding Lab) to avoid mixing of larvae (Fig. 10).
Place old newspapers under the mounting frame to absorb urination and excessive
moisture in the mounting room.
When 807o of the larvae have been completed web fcrmation (hybri d20-24 hr. and parent
race24-48 hr), without shaking the plastic mountage, gently remove the base paper and
place the mountage upside down. This improves the reelability of the cocoons.
Remove diseased and dead worms while taking out the paper placed on the base.
Record shrunken larvae (non-spinning) noticed on the mountages. (If non-spinning
larvae are more, transfer them to new mountages).
Mounting of premature and over mature larvae affects the quantitative traits of the
cocoon. The effect of early and late mounting on cocoon characters is given in Thble 7.
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