The Hindu : Three high-yielding silkworm hybrids developed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Three high-yielding silkworm hybrids developed

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD July 16. In a successful effort aimed at producing international grade silk, scientists here have developed three high-yielding and high-quality elite silkworm hybrids.

Conventional selection, hybridisation and DNA marker technologies were used by the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) in collaboration with the A.P. State Sericulture Research and Development Institute (APSSRDI) to develop these hybrids -- `Swarnandhra', `Kalpatharuvu' and `Hemavathy'.

The CDFD Director, Seyed E. Hasnain, told press persons on Tuesday that it would now be possible to produce silk of international grade.

After tests in 25 locations in different sericultural pockets, Silkworm Race Authorisation Committees were authorised rearing of these hybrids at commercial level. Among other attributes, these were found to be consistent in cocoon yield under tropical eco-climatic conditions in different locations, while providing superior quality silk, observed J. Nagaraju, CDFD scientist. The Department of Sericulture (DOS), which is also a collaborator in the project, began distributing these elite hybrids. The APSSRDI director, Chandrashekhariah, said all the three had a high survival rate ensuring productivity improvement. The Commissioner of Sericulture, I. Venkateswarlu, said the new hybrids have already become popular with sericulturists.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Plea against demolishing Nampally Sarai

No breathing space for smokers

School of Excellence in IIIT

Three high-yielding silkworm hybrids developed

Standing panel discusses engineering works