IMPACT OF HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND SILK PRODUCTION OF MULBERRY SILKWORM Bombyx mori L.

Abstract

Enhancement of mulberry leaf quality through dietary supplementation plays a vital role in improving
silkworm growth, cocoon productivity, and silk quality in sericulture. The present investigation was
undertaken to evaluate the influenced of selected homeopathic formulations on the larval
development, cocoon characteristics and silk filament parameters of Bombyx mori. The experiment
was conducted during December 2025-January2026 at Nashik under, controlled conditions of 24-
29°C temperature and 75-86 % relative humidity. Two homeopathic formulations were diluted at
different concentrations according to larval instars and applied by spraying on mulberry leaves prior
to feeding. The experiment was conducted in triplicate following a completely randomized design.
Larval growth increased progressively from the 1 st to the 5th instar, with significant improvement
observed from the 2 nd instar onwards. The maximum 5th instar larval weight was recorded in T₂
(34.68 ± 1.54g), followed by T₁ (32.32±1.25g), compared with the control (28.48 ± 1.31 g; P = 0.006).
Similarly, the 3rd instar larval weight was significantly higher in T₂ (6.083 ± 0.849 g) than in the
control (3.983 ± 0.499 g; P = 0.013). Cocoon traits such as cocoon weight and shell weight were also
enhanced under
treatment conditions, with T₂ recording the highest cocoon weight (19.13 ± 2.15 g ) and shell weight
( 4.59 ± 0.57 g) compared with the control (15.45 ± 0.39 g and 3.45 ± 0.44 g, respectively). The
effective rate of rearing (ERR) increased significantly from 90.00% in the control to 97.67% under
T₂ (P=0.001).
Silk filament parameter showed marked improvement under homeopathic supplementation. T₂
recorded the highest number of revolutions (987.67 ± 55.71) and filament length (1111.13 ± 62.67
m). However, filament weight and denier did not differ significantly among treatments. The findings
demonstrated that homeopathic enrichment of mulberry leaves positively influenced larval growth,
cocoon productivity, and silk filament quality without adversely affecting rearing performance.
Among the treatments evaluated, Iodium (T₂) proved to be the most effective. The study suggests that
homeopathic supplementation may serve as a sustainable, eco-friendly, and economically viable
approach for improving silk productivity and sericultural efficiency.