G. Subramanya

Department of Studies in Sericulture Science, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore—570 006, Karnataka, India.

Abstract

Newly emerged male moths of silkworm Bombyx mori were treated with in 24 h of eclosion irradiated with two independent doses of 50 Gy and 100 Gy X-rays. The effects of X-rays in the parental generation have indicated significant increase of unfertilized and unhatched eggs followed by significant reduction in the hatchability in the treated batches compared to control. The inheritance of induced sterility was examined in the succeeding generations by rearing the F₁, F₂ and F₃ silkworm progenies and by crossing the progenies of treated males with untreated female moths. It is evident from the results that the number of hatched eggs gradually increased from F₁–F₃ generations. Thus, the results showed that the egg hatchability do not remain constant at every generation and hatching tendency of eggs increase in the progenies of treated batches. The mechanism of inherited sterility was discussed.