Comparative studies of different types of mountages used in Sericulture for quality cocoon production of Antheraea proylei

The present investigations were conducted to study the efficiency of five different types of mountages namely Bamboo sticks, dried mango leaves, Cardboard box, Wooden box and Newspaper type. Fifth instar larval stage of Antheraea proylei stops feeding and begin to spin. The quality of cocoon completely depends on the type of mounting and mountages. The results revealed that mountage of dried mango leaves showed better positive results for larval spinning. The average filament length, weight of cocoon and cocoon shell was significantly more in dried mango leaf twigs type mountage i.e., 861.3 ± 2.49, 4.1 ± 0.1 and 1.27 ± 0.01 respectively and lowest in case of newspaper type mountage which is 335.3 ± 2.25, 1.5 ± 0.1 and 0.90 ± 0.01 respectively. Mean data evidently showing that mango leaf twigs showed high tendency to produce improved quality of cocoons. Antheraea proylei consists of a double layer cocoon structure with a large and irregular outer bag enclosing an inner cocoon shell without any connection.