Hatchability associated with artificial parthenogenesis in stocked strains of silkworm, Bombyx mori L.

As many as one thousand strains of silkworm, Bombyx mori, are currently stocked in Japan and are distributed for use in research. The life cycles of silkworms in experimental rearing can easily be controlled, which together with other characteristics, makes them excellent experimental animals. Another advantage of silkworms is that they can undergo artificial parthenogenesis. Sato (1925) and Astaurov (1967) conducted the pioneering research on artificial parthenogenesis in silkworms. Sugai et al. (1983) subsequently improved the method, and Yamashita and Irie (1980) and Gangopadhyay and Singh (2007) also successfully performed artificial parthenogenesis in their studies. Sugai et al. (1983), Shinbo et al. (1991) and Klymenko (2001) reported that artificial parthenogenetic rates vary between strains. It would therefore be useful to know, in advance, the hatchability associated with artificial parthenogenesis for the strain being used in particular artificial parthenogenesis experiments. In the current study, we investigated the hatchability associated with artificial parthenogenesis in 208 silkworm strains including native and improved strains stocked by the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS).