World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

ASSESSMENT OF HIGH YIELDING MULBERRY VARIETIES AT NURSERY LEVEL UNDER THE TROPICAL AGRO CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF ANANTAPUR, ANDHRA PRADESH

Dr. P. Sudhakar*, S. Gandhi Doss, B. Vijaya Naidu and Pankaj Tewary

ABSTRACT

Mulberry (Morus alba L.) a perennial plant in nature cultivated for its foliage to feed silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) as seasonal crop. Mulberry plants popularly propagated through vegetatively. Therefore, proficient method of propagation not only saves farmers economy but also plays pivotal role on the future of sericulture. Keeping the above aspects four high yielding mulberry varieties viz. Victory1 (V1), Genotype4 (G4), AGB8 and Berhampore (BER) varieties were planted during June-July, 2019 at Regional Sericultural Research Station, Central Silk Board, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Each variety was planted @ 2500 cuttings and maintained properly for their survival. Considering V1 mulberry variety as a benchmark high yielding mulberry recommended for the South Indian geo-climatic conditions, the other varieties performance at nursery level was studied. Sprouting of G4 saplings was recorded 11.11% more compared to V1 (89.10%) followed by AGB8 (8.31%), however BER resulted in 22.78% less than the V1 variety. The survival behavior of G4 showed 32.83% more compared to V1 (73.40%) followed by AGB8 (22.89%) whereas 26.02% less survival was noticed in BER under Ananthapur conditions of Andhra Pradesh. Sapling height was recorded 27.78% high in BER followed by G4 (14.49%) and AGB8 (2.94%) compared to V1 (183.6cm/plant). The sapling biomass and shoot weight was recorded higher percent in AGB8 (60.0 & 91.2%) followed by G4 (49.0 & 73.7%), whereas the same were recorded least in BER (30.0 & 35.1%) compared to V1 variety (100.0 & 57.0 g/sapling). In case of root weight of the saplings it was recorded 23.26% more in BER variety followed by AGB8 (18.60%) and G4 (16.28%) compared to V1 variety (43.0g/sapling). Number of leaves per sapling was recorded 7.56% more in G4 followed by BER (4.20%) whereas the same was less on AGB8 (-6.72%) compared to V1 variety (23.8 leaves/sapling). Leaf area was significantly higher in BER (106.49%) followed by AGB8 (62.47%) and G4 (15.42%) over V1 saplings (201.7cm2). Moisture content of leaves was noticed comparatively low in the decreasing order of G4 (-0.66%), AGB8 (-3.03%) and BER (-4.49%) compared with V1 where it was recorded higher moisture content (75.80%) among all the varieties. All the high yielding mulberry varieties viz. V1, G4, AGB8 & BER have shown morphologically significant growth variations during their establishment period of 45, 60 and 90 days after plantation.

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