Question

What is Sericulture?​

Answer 1

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Sericulture - rarely of silk worms

Answer 2

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Here is ur answer ✏

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$\bf\bold{What \: is \: Sericulture?}$

Sericulture is the process of cultivating silkworms and extracting silk from them. The caterpillars of the domestic silkmoth (also called ‘Bombyx mori’) are the most commonly used silkworm species in sericulture. Other types of silkworms (such as Eri, Muga, and Tasar) are also cultivated for the production of ‘wild silks’. An image detailing the different types of silkworms is provided below.

Sericulture is a very important domestic industry in many countries. India and China are the world’s leading producers of silk. The silk output of these two countries combined accounts for over 60% of the global production.

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What is the Process Followed in Sericulture?

For the production of mulberry silk, the sericulture process follows three primary steps.

• Moriculture – the cultivation of mulberry leaves.
• Silkworm rearing – promoting the growth of the silkworm.
• Silk reeling – the extraction of silk filaments from the silkworm cocoons

Finally, the silk filaments are woven together to form a thread. These threads are often plied together to form a yarn.

What are the Challenges Faced in Sericulture?

Silk farmers practicing sericulture are met with several challenges that could potentially destroy their harvest. They are also prone to many health hazards. Silkworms are vulnerable to several diseases such as pebrine and flacherie. Also, several pests threaten the healthy growth of silkworm larvae. Some important challenges faced in sericulture are listed below.

• The pebrine disease can infect the eggs, resulting in their death before the hatching of the larvae. Any larvae affected by this disease develop dark spots and become lethargic.
• Viral infections in the larvae may result in the shrinkage of their bodies. They may also start giving off an unpleasant odour.
• Other viral infections such as cytoplasmic polyhedrosis can cause the larvae to lose their appetites.
• The muscardine infection, caused by fungi, can cause the larvae to become extremely feeble and eventually die.
• The larvae of dermestid beetle can bore into the silkworm cocoons and eat the pupae. Silk cannot be reeled from these damaged cocoons.
• Some mites produce a toxic substance that kills silkworms.