Nutritive Values of Carbohydrates for the Silkworm, Bombyx mori

Abstract

NUTRITIONAL requirements for carbohydrates in insects have been widely studied¹, but not enough in the leaf-eating forms. This is mainly due to the fact that there are difficulties which must be solved before the determination of their nutritional requirements, namely, in devising a suitable test diet. In the silkworm, Bombyx mori, the nutritive value of the mulberry leaves has hitherto been discussed on the basis of the analytical data of leaf components as well as of the rearing experiments of larvæ. Though many efforts have been made to formulate a chemically defined diet for this insect, no suitable one has so far been made available. I have recently tried to determine the nutritive values of carbohydrates for the silkworm by means of oral administration of them.