Techno‐mechanical properties of cocoon, raw silk and filament of two mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) strains

AbstractNatural silk is considered as queen of textile due to its superior traits. This study was conducted to assess technical properties of cocoon, and raw silk and mechanical properties of silk filament produced by two mulberry silkworm strains. The Chinese strain (205PO) produced dry cocoon of 0.61±0.04 g with raw silk of 0.30±0.02 g and the Japanese strain (J101) produced dry cocoon of 0.49±0.01 g with raw silk of 0.23±0.00 g. The single filament length of 205PO and J101 was 1203.1±20.42 m cocoon−1 and 1082.3±48.95 m cocoon−1, respectively. The filament was finer in the Japanese silkworm strain (1.91±0.06 denier) compared to the Chinese silkworm strain (2.26±0.15 denier). The filament tenacity, tenacity rupture and strain of J101 was 6.24 %, 24.62 % and 4.42 % greater compared to 205PO. The tensile strength of 205PO was 11.82 % greater compared to J101. The filament diameter was 22.01±0.42 μm and 21.98±0.15 μm of 205PO and J101, respectively. Based on these findings, it is recommended that silkworm strains with superior techno‐mechanical properties may be included in breeding programmes for enhancing the quality of silk textile.