Genetic diversity, classification and comparative study on the larval phenotypic data in 54 oval cocoon strains of Iran silkworm Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) gene bank

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate genetic diversity, classification and comparative study on the larval phenotypic data in all 54 oval cocoon strains of Iran silkworm Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) gene bank. The study reveals that the different strains of silkworm B. mori showed different performance based on larval phenotypic data. The analysis of variance regarding the studied traits showed that different strains have significant difference for traits (P<0.01). Totally, T1-P (629.757), Baghdadi (620.191), 4-4 (614.826), 110×32 (613.690), and 32 (611.407) showed higher evaluation index values and also 4-4 (5.343), 32 (5.260), 110×32 (5.226), Pink Khorasan (5.155), and T1-P (5.108) showed higher sub-ordinate function values. This study reveals the phylogenetic relationship of oval cocoon strains of Iran germplasm. The dendrograms constructed resolved the 54 silkworm strains into some major clusters. However, the strains of the same origin did not grouped together, demonstrating that they might have from different biological and development performance.

Keywords: Bombyx mori, unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic (UPGMA), sub-ordinate function, larval development, gene bank.