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Sericulture

Article by:- vijayalaxmi.golla

Sericulture

Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm. Silk was believed to have first been produced in China as early as the Neolithic Period.

Sericulture was introduced byThe South Indian ruler who introduced sericulture as an agro-industry in his kingdom was Tipu Sultan.


Sericulture in India

Mulberry sericulture is mainly practised in states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Bodoland (Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri districts of Assam), West Bengal, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu who are the major silk producing states in the country.

Species used in sericulture

Although a number of species are found producing silk but only few species are used for sericulture industry.

Mulberry Silkworm (Bombyxmori): 

Tasar Silkworm (Anthereapaphia): ...

Muga Silkworm (Antheraea assama): ...

Eri Silkworm (Attacus Ricinii): ...

Oak Silkworm (Antheraeapernyi): ...

Gaint Silkworm (Attacus alts):



Life cycle of silkworm

The life cycle of mulberry silkworm completes in 45-55 days, consists of stages egg, larva, pupa and moth. Egg stage is lasting for 9-10 days, larval stage which is 24-28 days, pupal stage 8-10 days and moth stages 3-4 days.


Stages of silk production 

Sericulture. This is the term used to describe the process of gathering the silkworms and harvesting the cocoon to collect the materials. ... 

Thread extraction. ... 

Dyeing. ... 

Spinning. ... 

Weaving. ... 

Finishing.

Process of silk production

The process of silk production is known as sericulture. ... Extracting raw silk starts by cultivating the silkworms on mulberry leaves. Once the worms start pupating in their cocoons, these are dissolved in boiling water in order for individual long fibres to be extracted and fed into the spinning reel



Major diseass in sericulture

Major silkworm diseases are viral such as nuclear polyhedrosis (Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus; BmNPV), cytoplasmic polyhedrosis (Bombyx mori cytoplasmic polyhedrovirus; BmCPV), infectious flacherie (Bombyx mori infectious flacherie virus; BmIFV), densonucleosis (Bombyx mori densovirus; BmDNV); bacterial such as


Importance of sericulture 

Sericulture provides gainful employment, economic development and improvement in the quality of life to the people in rural area and therefore it plays an important role in anti poverty programme and prevents migration of rural people to urban area in search of employment


Scope of sericulture

Sericulture offers career opportunity in Govt. research centers, silk boards, academic fields, sericulture units, agriculture sector banks etc. One can get jobs in Central Government agencies like Central Silk Board/Silk Export Promotion Council/Fao/Nabard, Krishi Vigyan kendra

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