A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF HAEMOLYMPH OF THE FIFTH INSTAR LARVAE OF A MULTIVOLTINE BREED AND A BIVOLTINE BREED OF THE MULBERRY SILKWORM, BOMBYX MORI L.

Changes in the composition of haemolymph reflect the physiological and biochemical transformations taking place in the insect tissues. In this work, the biochemical composition of haemolymph of the fifth instarlarvae of a multivoltine breed (L×CSR2) was compared with that of a bivoltine breed (CSR6×CSR12) of the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori. The larval period of the fifth instar larvae of both breeds lasted for 6 days. Increased trend of biochemical properties from the 1st day to the 6thday was noticed in both the breeds. The protein concentration of the fifth instar larvae of bivoltine breed was significantly lower than that of the multivoltine breed on all days. But the concentration of amino acid and carbohydrate were greater in the haemolymph of the bivoltine breed than that of the haemolymph of the multivoltine breed on all days. Lipid concentration was lower in the multivoltine breed than that of the bivoltine breed on the first four days whereas on the later days reverse trend was observed. The ‘t’ values indicate that the differences in the biochemical parameters between the two breeds were significant on all days