Question

Pebrine is a disease of
(a)Honey bee
(b)Fish
(c)Silkworm
(d)Lac insect

Answer 1

Hint: This organism is the larva or caterpillar of the Bombyx mori moth and they are completely dependent on humans because they no longer exist freely in the wild. The main food source of these organisms is mulberry leaves.

Complete answer:
Pebrine is a disease of silkworms. The parasites which cause this disease are microsporidian parasites, mostly Nosema bombycis. The major symptoms of pebrine are usually the larvae with brown dots all around it and will not be able to spin the silkworm thread. Pebrine is known as the worst disease of silkworms as it creates the death of eggs or larvae in its third moult. Silkworms belong to the phylum Arthropoda of class Insecta.

Additional Information: -At a time, the female silkworms can produce almost 300 eggs on the mulberry leaves. They also produce gelatinous secretion to cover and protect the eggs also helps in sticking eggs to the leaves.
-The female silkworm dies due to a lack of consumption of food after they lay eggs. They lay eggs in a Shady place so that the eggs will remain safe for a long period.
-When a favorable environment comes, they transform into larvae which are produced in almost 2 weeks from eggs at a temperature of 17 to 26 degrees Celsius.
So, the correct answer is ‘silkworm’.

Note: -When the silkworm is allowed to live after making its cocoon, they will create a hole in the cocoon and break open as a moth. This will destroy the threads and damage the silk. Because of this reason silkworm cocoons are put into boiling water to kill the silkworms and helps in easy unraveling of silk.
- A microsporidium called Nosema bombycis will terminate all the silkworms which come out of the infected eggs and they come from the mulberry leaves that silkworms eat.
-During the plague in France, Antoine Béchamp, a french scientist discovered the disease for the first time.