1st chapter introduction to sericulture

Editor's Notes

• #6: 1 mile = 1.61 kms
• #9: Advantage # 1. High Employment Potential: Only sericul­ture can generate vast employment. No other industry generates this kind of employment. Hence, it is used as a tool for rural economic reconstruction. Advantage # 2. Provides Vibrancy to Rural Economy: It is estimated that about 57% of the gross value of silk fabrics flow back to cocoon growers, who in general are rural people with share of income to different groups as follows : 56.8% to cocoon growers; 6.8% to the reelers, 9.1% to the twisters; 10.7% to the weavers; 16.6% to the trade. Thus, large amount of income from silk industry goes back to villages from the cities. Advantage # 3. Low Gestation, High Returns: ADVERTISEMENTS: Investment of only Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000 (excluding cost of land and rearing space) for mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing in one acre of irrigated land can generate net income levels up to Rs. 30,000/acre/ annum. Mulberry takes only six months to grow for starting silkworm rearing and once planted it can support five crops in one year under tropical condition. Depending on the management, rearing at least for 15 years can be continued in the same land. Advantage # 4. Women-friendly Occupation: Different activities of sericulture starting from mulberry garden management, leaf harvesting and silkworm rearing even reeling and weaving can effectively be suppor­ted by women workers. In India, it has been found that over 60% of sericulture employees constitutes the women folk. Advantage # 5. Ideal Programme for the Weaker Section of the Society: Low land holders even can start seri­culture. Silkworm rearing in 3/4 acres of mulberry garden can support a family of three without hiring labour. Moreover, vast areas of tasar food plantation are available in different forests of India; if judici­ously exploited for rearing tasar silkworm, these can offer a great supplementary employment to tribal Indians. Advantage # 6. Eco-Friendly Properties: ADVERTISEMENTS: (i) Soil preser­vation: Being perennial plant with green foliage, mulberry contributes to soil preservation and provides vast green covers, (ii) Manures: Wastes from silk worm rearing can be recycled for mulberry garden preparation as manures, ADVERTISEMENTS: (iii) Fuel source: Dried mulberry twigs and branches can be used as fuels by the farmers, thus in turn can reduce the pressure on nearby vegetation or forest, (iv) Pollu­tion control: Being an agro-based industry, it requires minimum use of fuel machinery, thus reduces air pollution, (v) Integrated farming: With other plantations like flower, vegetables, mulberry can be cultivated as intercrop, thus same land can be used for various productions, (vi) Uses of land: Besides cultivation lands, water shade areas, hill slopes, vacant lands, etc. can also be used for the deep-rooted mulberry plants. Advantage # 7. Scope for Professional Training: Sericul­ture departments of various states arrange for train­ing on different aspects of sericulture to the farmers with monthly stipend and field training. ADVERTISEMENTS: At national level, the Central Silk Board (CSB) organises three kinds of programmes. The first is open to all, the second to in-service personnel and the third to the farmers. Short term courses. Intensive Training Programmes are also organised by CSB from time to time. The International Centre for Training and Research in Tropical Sericulture (ICTRETS), Mysore conducts three courses on tropical sericulture at international level. In the vocational scheme, sanctioned by UGC, students can take sericulture as their subject of choice. Thus, sericulture is providing a wide scope for choosing profession to all sorts of people in the society. Advantage # 8. Facilities for Seri-Culturists: Besides provid­ing field and educational trainings, Regional Exten­sion Centres and Technical Service Centres of both State and Central Sericulture Boards supply advanced-staged larvae to the rearers; rearing appliances and other raw materials like mulberry samplings are supplied at nominal cost to the rearers. Incentive bonus is offered to bivoltine rearers. Crop insurance schemes have been offered specially to bivoltine farmers to protect against any failure. In remote rural areas, farmers are supplied with pamphlets or other essential details of methods of rearing, use of bed disinfectants, insecticides, etc.
• #10: (i)Soil preser­vation Being perennial plant contributes to soil preservation and provides vast green covers (ii) Manures Wastes from silk worm rearing can be recycled for mulberry garden preparation as manures, (iii) Fuel source (Dried mulberry twigs and branches) (iv) Pollu­tion control (agro-based industry) (v) Integrated farming (flower, vegetables) (vi) Uses of land (use of water shade areas, hill slopes, vacant lands)
• #11: (i)Soil preser­vation Being perennial plant contributes to soil preservation and provides vast green covers (ii) Manures Wastes from silk worm rearing can be recycled for mulberry garden preparation as manures, (iii) Fuel source (Dried mulberry twigs and branches) (iv) Pollu­tion control (agro-based industry) (v) Integrated farming (flower, vegetables) (vi) Uses of land (use of water shade areas, hill slopes, vacant lands)
• #13: Anterior margin of silk glands of MSW larvae are thin and fibro elastic, used to stitch wounds. MSW: Mulberry Silkworm
• #14: One breezy afternoon around 3000 B.C.E., Empress Xi Lingshi (Leizu), consort to the great Yellow Emperor, sat down for a cup of tea in her garden. Under the shade of a mulberry tree, she lifted the cup to her lips when—plink—a small object dropped (narrowly missing her royal nose) into her drink. The empress lowered her cup in surprise. A moth’s cocoon, hard, oblong, and pasty white in color, had fallen from the swaying mulberry branches overhead. With royal composure, she plucked the blob from her tea and was about to cast it aside when she noticed it was curiously soft. The cocoon was not encased in a hard shell but in a sort of fiber, which a quick soak in her hot tea had further softened. Pulling on a loose strand, Leizu unraveled it until it stretched the length of her garden, over 600 meters. Intrigued, she gathered more cocoons from the tree to unravel, and worked the strands into cloth. When she finished, she had woven a soft and shimmery fabric that was cool to the touch. Excited by her discovery, the empress didn’t stop there. She studied the worms that produced the cocoons and noticed that they ate nothing but mulberry leaves. Leizu persuaded the Yellow Emperor to procure a grove of mulberry trees so she could domesticate these silkworms. She invented a reel to spin their cocoon fibers into thread, and a loom to weave into cloth. Then she passed on what she learned to her entourage, and the sericulture tradition was born. From a disrupted afternoon tea, the empress’ new discovery became intertwined with China’s next five thousand years of history. From then on, Leizu also became known as the goddess of silk. A Chinese tale of the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Emperor. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea and the hot tea loosened the long strand of silk. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. She realized that this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread
• #18: “Signor Washington Mari” (Italian Sericulturist) took many experiment in cultivation and development of breeds in Mysore region.
• #19: 1940: The all India sericulture was held at Lucknow and decision was taken to expand the area of sericulture in India.