Breeding and evaluation of adaptability of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, to the new low-cost artificial diet, LPY lacking mulbeery leaf powder

The silkworm, bombyx mori, is known to be a typical monophagous insect which eats only mulberry leaves. Therefore, artificial diets of the silkworm in the market contain a large quantity of mulberry leaf powder which accounts for a considerable part of the cost. Therefore, studies were carried out on the breeding of new commercial silkworm races in which larvae are able to eat a low cost diet, LPY containing feed for domestic animals and lacking mulberry leaf powder. A method was developed to select pure lines with spontaneous mutation genes related to the feeding activity toward the low cost diet, in avoiding to induce artificial mutations by radiation, and so on. We attempted to adapt these lines to the diet