Evaluation of Some Physical Characteristics of Mulberry Cocoons Produced in Ghana

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 1,Issue 5, Sept. 2014

Year:

2014

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Sericulture, Cocoon Index, Characteristics, Variability

Authors:

Amoah, J.; Akufo-Kumi, K.; Oduro, W. O.; Baddoo, R. NaaNorkor; Animpong, M. A. B.; Odoom, C.

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

1

Number:

5

Pages:

320-324

Month:

September

Note:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Abstract:

Sericulture was formally introduced to Ghanaian farmers in 1993 which led to the establishment of pilot farms and a Silk Production and Demonstration factory in 2004. This study evaluated some physical characteristics of mulberry silk cocoons produced from ten farms selected on the basis of a three year production history. The characteristics evaluated included dry cocoon weight, shell weight, shell ratio, cocoon length, and cocoon width. Dry cocoon weight ranged between 0.395 ± 0.089 gm and 0.377 ± 0.098 gm. Cocoon shell weight was between 0. 241±0.055 gm and 0.257±0.092 gm. The maximum Cocoon shell ratio was 66.5± 11.4 while the minimum was 62.3± 12.1. Variability in the size of cocoons based on the mean cocoon index ranged from 172.39 to 179.90. The lowest standard deviation was 7.90 and the highest was 20.6. Coefficient of variation on the cocoon indices from the ten farms ranged between 4.41 to 11.98. No statistically significant difference was found among the characteristics of cocoons produced from all the ten (10) farms; however on the basis of standard deviation of 8 or less with minimal co-efficient of variation (CV) for cocoon indices, four farms, Mampong (Cocoon Index of 7.90 and co-efficient of variation 4.41), Amartey (Cocoon Index of 7.97 and co-efficient of variation 4.58), Kyeremeh (Cocoon Index of 7.98 and co-efficient of variation 4.46) and Helix farms (Cocoon Index of 8.02 and co-efficient of variation 4.52) produced cocoons that are least variable in shape.

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