CHROMIUM AND SILKWORM

Saeed Ahmed completed his M.Phil/M.Sc(Hons.)Entomology in 2010 from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad,Pakistan. Currently, he is the student of P.hD and also working as Research Officer in the same University.

This book describes the entrance of Cr (III) into the food chain of silkworm from mulberry plants irrigated using Cr (III) containing synthetic effluents during the year 2010 at Sericulture Laboratory in Agricultural Entomology Department. The objective of the study was to evaluate the accumulation of Cr (III) in soil, mulberry leaves, silkworm larvae, silk glands and feaces and to observe the effects of this accumulation on the growth of silkworm larvae and silk yield. The soil, plant, silk glands silkworm and their excreta were sampled to determine Cr. (III) amount using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS).The conclusions were withdrawn from the obtained results were(1)Bio- accumulation Cr (III) in soil, mulberry leaves, silk glands, silkworm larvae and faeces was high at the higher concentration of Cr (III) effluent(2)Although Bombyx mori excreted large quantity of Cr(III) but still most of Cr (III) reside inside its body.(3) Food consumption, Coefficient of food utilization and silk yield also affected by the effluent.