Probiotic bacteria boost silkworm survival against viral disease by 36 points
A simple probiotic supplement dramatically improved survival rates in silkworms infected with a devastating virus, raising prospects for protecting sericulture—a $300 million global industry. The finding suggests that gut microbiota manipulation could reduce production losses and offers a non-antibiotic disease control strategy for farming operations worldwide.
Originaltitel: The mortality of <em>Bombyx mori</em> larvae challenged by BmNPV is reduced when supplemented with <em>Lactobacillus acidophilus</em> bacteria
<p><strong>Objective</strong> Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) causes grasserie with severe effects in Thai strains of the silkworm Bombyx mori. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of probiotic supplementation on the survival of silkworm larvae challenged with BmNPV.</p><p><strong>Results </strong>Silkworm larvae of the Thai polyvoltine strain Samrong was supplemented with commercial probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus acidophilus, on the second day of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th instar. When challenged with BmNPV on the second day of the 4th instar, the survival ratio was 92% for larvae supplemented with <em>L. acidophilus</em> as compared to 56% for larvae without <em>L. acidophilus</em> supplementation. For the larvae that survived until pupation, we determined the growth characters cocooning ratio, larval weight, and pupation ratio, and the economic characters cocoon shell weight and cocoon weight. Growth characters were significantly lower in larvae infected with BmNPV as compared to infected larvae receiving probiotics.</p>