EFFECT OF INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT ON QUALITY OF MULBERRY LEAVES ASSESSED THROUGH BIOASSAY

An experiment on bioassay with multix bi and multix multi silkworm hybrids was conducted during two favourable and two unfavourable seasons. The silkworms were fed mulberry leaves separately produced through six different treatment combinations under three packages. The result revealed that the application of reduced doses of Nitrogen and Phosphorus supplemented by various types of organic manures attributed cocoon yield and other economic characters of rearing and reeling at par with the control. Hence the package comprises of AM (Arbuscular mycorrhizal) fungi-inoculated Saplings variety S-1, green manuring with Crotalaria junced during rainy season and leguminous cover crop with ligna umbellata during winter season along with the application of 50% reduced doses of N and P and full dose of K may be recommended for quality leaf yield, successful silkworm rearing and lower expenditure in mulberry cultivation under rainfed alluvial soil conditions.