• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.243-248
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• 2009

The Larval critical weight is the minimal mass at which further growth in not necessary for a normal time course to pupation. Larval critical weight (Lcw), pupal critical weight (Pcw) and adult critical weight (Acw) of different breeds of Bombyx mori L. were determined through starvation (food deprivation). The Lcw was found to be about 938.46, 2397.26, 2283.57 and 2220.97 mg in males and 1118.15, 2681.04, 2604.9 and 2455.88 mg in females of the multivoltine breed (Nistari), Bivoltine breeds (P5 & NB18) and their hybrid (P5$\times$NB18) respectively. Bivoltine breed P5 took more time (3.35 days) followed by NB18 (3.13 days) & P5$\times$NB18 (3.02 days) to attain larval critical weight (In $5^{th}$ Instar) than the multivoltine breed Nistari (2.42 days). Decrease in weight from larval maximal weight to pupal weight and to adult weight was also observed more in multivoltine than bivoltines, which may be due to more latent feeding period in bivoltines. Since Lcw is a stable character and independent of environment, it could be utilized for characterization of silkworm breeds to assess the quality of an insect.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.26-31
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• 1978

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of nicotine-contaminated mulberry-leaf, which was grown in the vicinity of tobacco drying plant (TDP), on cocoon crop. Mulberry-leaf harvested from the field at Sericultural Experiment Station (SES), Suweon, Korea, was used as control, supposedly nicotine-free leaf. Leaf harvested from the field in the distances of 30-50m, 300-400m and 700-800m from TDP was fed during the whole larval stage of the silkworm at. SES. The effect of leaf in each treatment level on the quantitative characters of the silkworm was summarized as follows; 1. Larval duration from 4th instar on was significantly longer in the TDP-leaf treatments than for the control. 2. Duration of matured silkworm appearance became longer as the distance of the mulberry-field from TDP got shorter, because the larval duration and growth of the silkworm were not uniform in the TDP-leaf treatments. 3. Mortality rates during the late larval, cocoon spinning, and pupal stages were highest for the 30-50m leaf, especially mortality rates during the late larval and pupal stage were serious. 4. Pupation rate was lowest for the 30-50m leaf and those for the 300-400m and the 700-800m leaf were not significantly different from that of the control. 5. Nicotine damage to cocoon weight and cocoon shell weight was significant in each TDP-leaf level. Cocoon shell ratio was reduced at the same extent in each level, compared with the control. 6. The ratio among cocoon-classes was significantly different between treatments, compared with best-cocoon ratio of 87.1% for the control. Cocoons were not uniform for the 30-50m leaf, and those for the 300-400m and the 700-800m leaf were as almost uniform as those for the control. 7. Loss of fresh cocoon yield became greater as the distance of the mulberry-field from the TDP-got shorter. In conclusion, the critical distance of mulberry-field, which influences larval health, cocoon quality and yield, appeared to be 800m from the TDP. Such other factors as wind direction and topographic location may be involved in the critical distance. 8. From the present experiment, we could obtain only the effect of nicotine on the silkworm through digestive system, since the silkworm was raised at SES in Suweon. If the silkworm.. were raised in the vicinity of the TDP, poison effect of nicotine on the silkworm could beo expected through exoskeleton and tracheal system as well as through digestive system.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2005

This is a subsequent study to our previous finding that Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, gained a so-called upper plateau concentration, around 30,000 ng/g dry weight digestive gland for benzo(a)pyrene, showed reproductive behavior but produced their ensuing reproductive outputs damaged. A serial dilution of sediment elutriates from Jinhae Bay, Korea, where pollution was progressive, were exposed to gametes of the Pacific oyster for 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min to detail the pollutant effects on very young specimens. There was an apparent critical dilution over which adverse effects are evident. This was $10\%$ of the present sediment elutriate, corresponding to 0.3 ng/g on the basis of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for the oyster. Within the dilution the embryonic development was not influenced by the duration of exposure to its gamete stage. At higher dilutions over the critical dilution, occurrence of abnormality increased dependent on the pollutant dilution and the duration of exposure. Similar trends were also found in larval mortality. However, overall, the chemical toxicity was more significant to morphogenesis than to survival, suggesting a potential recruitment of the pollutants-induced abnormal larvae in the wild population to threaten the population integrity.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 1983

It has been known that the insect molting hormone and its analogues exist also in plant kingdom and their concentration has been found to be about 0.1~2.0% of dry matter, which is equivalent to $10^3{\sim}10^5$ times of those in insects. This study was carried out; 1) to isolate the phytoecdysones from Korean Achyranthes radix and characterize their physico-chemical properties. 2) to investigate the biological activity of this phytoecdysone on Bombyx mori larvae. The resuls were summarized as follows; 1. The extraction method of phytoecdysones was optimized by three consecutive reflux for 1hr using 200g of dried and milled radix per 1l methanol. 2. The purification from the crude extract was made by a series of steps such as precipitation of gum-type polymer with n-Butyl acetate, adsorption on technical grade silica and chromatography with neutral alumina. The conditions of each step were optimized and the resulting crude crystal was about 500mg per kg dry radix. 3. The crude crystal from the cultivated Achyranthes(Achyranthes japonia) contained ecdysterone (20-hydroxyecdysone) and inokosterone in the proportion of one to one. In order to separate these, a series of processes such as acetylation, separation by alumina column chromatography deacetylation by alcoholysis, deionization and crystallization were introduced and optimized 125mg of ecdysterone and 18mg of inokosterone per kg dry radix were thus obtained. 4. The wild Achyranthes (Achyranthes obtusifolia) radix was found to contain the ecdysterone only. A 285mg of ecdysterone was crystallized per kg dry radix. 5. Isolated ecdysterone, inodosterone and acetylated compounds were characterized by IR., UV., NMR spectroscopy, mp, TLC and densitometry. 6. Ligation experiment was undertaken to confirm the biological activity of the purified ecdysterone; the ecdysterone could induce larval-pupal metamorphosis in the ligated abdomen of 4th instar larvae injecting 0.5~1.0${\mu}g$. 7. By ecdysterone feeding experiment using artificial diet, it was elucidated that the critical time of feeding would be the first half of each instar resulting in increased weight of silk layer. 8. The ecdysterone was fed to 5th instar silkworm at the level of 1, 2, 3, 5ppm of dry feed of artificial diet containing 5% mulberry leaves for 72hrs. At 2ppm of the concentration. body weight and silk layer weight were arrived at maximum. But at higher concentrations body weight and silk layer weight decreased than the control group. At 2ppm of the concentration, body weight was increased by 12.5%. 9. Feeding 2ppm of ecdysterone at the later half of 5th instar, the duration of larvae was shortened.