Evaluation of Plant-Based Mountage Structures on Cocoon Traits of Antheraea assamensis

The study to assess the impact of various plant-based mountages (jali) viz., som, soalu, hingori, mango, jackfruit, hilikha, azar, kotholua, iron wood, phutuka and box-type improved mountage on the cocoon characteristics of the muga silkworm, Antheraea assamensis Helfer (Lepidoptera: Saturnidae) revealed significant differences in terms of cocooning percentage, good cocoon percentage and defective cocoon percentage. Amongst the plant-based mountages, Hingori jali recorded the highest cocoon traits viz., cocooning (99.33%), good cocoon (71.00%), cocoon weight (4.93 g), shell weight (0.44 g), pupal weight 4.49g) and shell ratio (8.85%), which are statistically at par with the box-type mountage exhibited the highest cocooning (100.00%) and good cocoon % (72.00%) along with the highest cocoon weight (5.09g), shell weight (0.46g), pupal weight (4.63g), and shell ratio (8.98%), respectively. In contrast, the traditional plant-based phutuka jali demonstrated the lowest values for cocoon characteristics, including the highest defective cocoon percentage (36.33%).