Evaluation of nutraceutical against BmNPV: A grasserie causing virus

Abstract

India standing at the second place in the world of sericulture, still the cocoon production is not up to par. The disease outbreak is one of the major setbacks in the production of cocoons. The most common and disastrous disease among the various is grasserie, also known as hanging disease, jaundice and milky disease. Many attempts have already been made to overcome the loss from this late age disease, one among them i.e. the use of nutraceuticals at three different concentrations (2%, 4%, and 6%) is assessed in this current study. Nutraceuticals at 6 percent concentration outperformed the other treatments in terms of larval survival percentage (68.79%), mortality percentage (31.21%), ERR by number (6880) and ERR by weight (14.87 kg). The research provided insight into the possibility of using nutraceuticals at a concentration of 6 percent to prevent grasserie diseases in addition to boosting silkworm immunity, thereby helping farmers increase their financial yield. Nutraceuticals also have the added benefits of being affordable, easily accessible and environmentally friendly.