Safety Evaluation of Silkworms Fed Leaves Sprayed with Commonly
Used Pesticides in Fruit Mulberry Production
Honglin Mou
1,2
, Li Chen
3
, Jiequn Ren
1,*
, Zhimin Fan
1,2
, Minghai Zhang
1
, Yi Yang
1
, Lixin Tan
1
,
Zhangyun Zheng
1
and Quan Chen
1
1
The Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou, Chongqing, 404155, China
2
Chongqing Three Gorges University, Wanzhou, Chongqing, 404020, China
3
Plant Protection and Fruit Tree Technology Extension Station of Wanzhou District in Chongqing, Wanzhou, Chongqing,
404199, China
Keywords: Safety Evaluation, Silkworms, Pesticides, Fruit Mulberry Production.
Abstract:
This study was to evaluate the safety of commonly used pesticides on mulberry for commonly used
silkworms in Chongqing, and to provide reference for pest control and scientific pesticides using in
mulberry orchards in silkworm areas. 5 fungicides and 5 insecticides were sprayed on mulberry, mulberry
leaves were used to feed the 3
rd
instar silkworms 15~40 days later. The results showed that there was no
symptoms of poisoning and death to the 3
rd
instar silkworms and there was no difference in economic
indexes between treatment groups and control group, the treatment groups were separately sprayed with
50% carbendazim WP, 70% thiophanate-methyl WP, 10% difenoconazole WDG, 50% procymidone WP,
50% boscalid WDG, 10% imidacloprid WP and 8% chlorfenapyr ME, this showed that these pesticides
were safe for sericulture, to avoid affecting the quality of cocoons, leaves should be picked 15 days later.
However, there had potential safety risks for silkworms when spraying with 80% cyromazine WDG and
25% thiamethoxam WDG, in order to ensure the safety of silkworms, spraying must be done more than 40
days. 2.5% bifenthrin EW had highly toxic and a long residual period to silkworms, it has been forbidden to
use in mulberry fields for sericultural production.
1 INTRODUCTION
Bombyx mori belongs to Lepidoptera and is very
sensitive to most chemical pesticides. Every year,
silkworm pesticide poisoning occurs in the
sericulture area, which is caused by improper using
of pesticides, causing great economic losses to the
silkworm farmers (Li, Zhang, Zhong. 1998), (Ma,
Wang, Wang, 2005), (Yu, Wang, Wu, 2011),
(Wang, Zhang, She. 2021). At present, chemical
control is still one of the main methods of pest
management in mulberry fields (Wang, Zhang, She.
2021), (Song, Chen, Luo. 2020). When using
pesticides to control pests and diseases in mulberry
orchards, the selection and spraying methods of
pesticides were not appropriate, pesticides will
pollute mulberry orchards and the rearing
environment of silkworms by direct spraying, which
will cause pesticide poisoning for silkworms, and
have a great impact on economic benefits of
silkworm farmers. For example, 10%
difenoconazole WDG is often used to control
mulberry fruit sclerotiniosis in mulberry production.
However, Mingxiao Lv (Lv, Zhang. 2014) found
that 400 g/L difenoconazole SC is highly toxic to
silkworms by using the leaf leaching method, and
believes that 400 g/L difenoconazole SC is not
suitable to be used in mulberry fields. Therefore,
when using pesticides to control diseases and pests,
the impacts of various pesticides on the growth and
development of silkworms should be fully
considered to ensure the sustainable development of
mulberries and silkworms. To understand the effects
of commonly used pesticides on silkworm growth
and improve the production safety awareness of
cocoon peasant households, this experiment was
carried out in 2020. Pesticides were sprayed at
commonly used concentrations in production on
mulberry, mulberry leaves were used to feed the 3rd
instar silkworms. The symptoms of poisoning, the
instar development, body weight, cocooning rate,
cocoon weight, cocoon shell rate, rate of dead
cocoons were systematically investigated, then
comprehensive effects of 10 pesticides on