Question

Which one of the following diseases is caused by Nosema bombycis in Mulberry silkworm?
(A)Grasserie.
(B)Flacherie
(C)Pebrine
(D)None of the above

Answer 1

The disease which is caused by Nosema bombycis in Mulberry silkworm is commonly known by the name pepper disease. The stunted growth is seen in the infected silkworms which means that the height is lesser than the expected one.

Complete step by step answer:
Pebrine, which is also known as the "pepper disease," is a disease which is caused in the silkworms, and is caused by protozoan microsporidian parasites, mainly Nosema bombycis and maybe to a lesser extent, Vairimorpha, Pleistophora, and Thelohania species. The parasites infect eggs and are therefore transmitted to subsequent generations.
The silkworm larvae which are infected by this pebrine disease are usually found to be covered in dots of brown color and are not able to spin silkworm thread. Antoine Béchamp was the first one to acknowledge the explanation for this disease when an epidemic of the disease spread across France.

So, the correct answer is ‘Pebrine’.

Additional Information: Nosema bombycis is known to be a microsporidia that works by killing all of the silkworms which are hatched from the eggs which are infected and come from the food that silkworms eat. If by chance the silkworms acquire these microsporidia in their larval stage, there aren't any visible symptoms; however, mother moths will pass the microsporidium onto the eggs, and every one of the worms hatching from the infected eggs will die in their larva stage. Therefore, it's extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's liquid body substance under a microscope. The Nosema bombycis can't be differentiated from other species of Nosema by using morphological methods. Due to this issue, various serological, protein, and molecular approaches are developed.
Note:
Taking care of silkworms for the protection of raw silk is known as Sericulture. The word ‘Sericos’ means silk and the English word Culture means Rearing. Sericulture is known to be one of the main domestic industries in many countries.