author(s)
G Swathiga, G Umapathy and S Manimegalai

abstract
Eri silkworm (Samia cynthia ricini) is one of the most exploited, domesticated and commercialized non mulberry silkworms. Eri silk production and productivity depends highly on feeds consumed by eri silkworms. A study was undertaken to evaluate different castor genotypes for the rearing performance of C2 breed. Seeds of different castor genotypes viz., GCH 4, GCH 7, DCH 519, and TMV 5 along with local variety were obtained from Tapioca and Castor Research station, Yethapur, Salem. The treatments were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The performance of eri silkworm viz., larval parameters, cocoon parameters and grainage parameters were studied by feeding them with the leaves of five castor genotypes separately in cellular rearing method. The genotypes showed significant differences among rearing and grainage parameters of C2 breed of eri silkworm. Among the five genotypes, GCH 4 and DCH 519 genotypes showed superior among all the other genotypes on rearing and grainage performance. This study reveals that of the five castors genotypes GCH 4 cultivation would be more beneficial to the castor farmer for ERI culture as it yields more after local castor variety.