126 Trends in Biosciences 10 (1), 2017 Biology of Tasar Silkworm, Antheraea mylitta Drury Under Indoor Conditions K. C. BAMBHANIYA*, M. M. NAIK AND L. V. GHETIYA Department of Entomology, N. M. College of Agriculture Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396 450, Gujarat *email: mr.khushalbambhniya@gmail.com Trends in Biosciences 10(1), Print : ISSN 0974-8431, 126-131, 2017 ABSTRACT Study on biology of tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta Drury under indoor conditions was carried out in Department of Entomology, N. M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari. The female moth laid oval, ellipsoidal, slightly flat and bilaterally symmetrical brown coloured eggs in masses. The mean incubation, larval, pre - pupal and pupal period lasted for 9.16 ± 0.8, 31.80 ± 2.33, 2.84 ± 0.64 and 23.08 ± 1.50 days respectively, under indoor conditions. Hatching percentage was 67.44 ± 5.97%. Full fed tasar silkworm larvae measured 107.72 ± 10.23 mm in length and 19.12 ± 0.88 mm in breadth under indoor conditions. The cocoons of A. mylitta were generally silvery grey (white), suede (grey) daffodil (yellow) in colour. The mean weight of female and male cocoon was 8.80 ± 1.79 and 7.68 ± 1.56 g under indoor conditions. The sex ratio (Male: Female) was 1: 1.27. The pre-oviposition, oviposition and post-oviposition period were 1.52 ± 0.5, 2.12 ± 0.78 and 4.56 ± 0.51 days, respectively. The female moth laid 186.08 ± 38.68 eggs/ female. The female moths lived longer (8.96 ± 0.89 days) than male moths (5.00 ± 0.82 days) under indoor conditions. One generation of female and male tasar silkworm completed in 73.76 ± 2.98 and 65.20 ± 2.93 days under indoor condition. Key words Biology, tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta Tasar silk is produced from the tasar silkworms (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) which has many eco– races principally controlled by prevailing environmental conditions. The tasar silkworm has two varieties viz. tropical and temperate. Tropical tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta Drury is commercially exploited in India for production of vanya silk and a large number of poor families depend on tasar culture for their livelihood. Tasar silk displays a higher value of air permeability as compared to mulberry silk. As far as air permeability of silk fabrics is concerned, significant improvement is noticed up to eight days sunlight exposure. The abrasion resistance was found to be influenced by the exposure time. The effect of exposure to sunlight has been found to influence stiffness of the material in that the stiffness has increased with an increase in the exposure time. Drape of tasar silk fabric is found to be better than that of the mulberry silk fabric. The species exploited for the culture of tasar silk is the wild variety of A. mylita that feeds on Arjun tree (Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) Wight & Arn.), Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.), Badam tree (Terminalia catappa L.), Oak (Quercus spp.), Indianlaurel (Terminalia tomentosa (Roxb.) Wight & Arn. and Sal (Shorea robusta Roth). Gujarat has the great diversity of flora and many of the plant species serve as host tree of A. mylitta under wild conditions. Among these wild host, arjun tree (T. arjuna) is very important tree species grown under agro-forestry plantation system. The present investigation has been designed keeping in view the main objective of measuring the potential of sustainable utilization of the wild silk moth, rearing performance under indoor conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Initial culture of A. mylitta eggs was obtained from Tasar Research Station, Central Silk Board, Swami Vivekanand Ward, Bhandara- 441 904 (Maharashtra State). Investigations were carried out to know the biology of tasar silkworm during 2012-13 at Sericulture Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Entomology, N. M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat. For indoor rearing of A. mylitta newly hatched larvae were released on the leaves of the host plant (T. arjuna) with the help of soft camel hair brush. Maximum portion of edge of each leaf was available to the larvae for feeding. The fresh twigs with 12 to 15 leaves were used as leaf diet. A larva was transferred to a new conical flask with the help of new food. Touching with hand to food plants and silkworm was mostly avoided. The old twigs were replaced by fresh twigs from the conical flask at 12 hours interval. The moulting larvae were transferred along with their support food leaves. The used conical flask was then wash, disinfected and dried for re-use. Egg period was considered as period between date of egg laying and date of egg hatching. In egg observations, the colour, shape and size (breadth and length), were calibrated under sterio trinocular microscope (make: Olympus- SZ 61) fit with brand catcam-130 camera having software power scopephoto (veision.3.1) and weight was recorded on electronic weighing balance and the total number of eggs laid by single female of tasar silk moth was also counted. Larval period was considered from hatching of the eggs to last larval instar. Newly hatched larva was released on the tender leaves of arjun tree with the help of soft camel hair brush. Moulting was confirmed by the presence of casted off skin of larva of subsequent instars. To determine pre-pupal period, observations were recorded every day at morning during the larval development. Full grown larvae became sluggish and feeding as well as movement ceased before entering pre-pupal stage. In this stage, larva constructed the silken cocoon and pre pupated