Introduction to Sericulture and Silk Industry
Domain focus
This domain introduces sericulture as an agro-based industry and the silk production chain. The exam tests definitions of sericulture and silk, mulberry versus non-mulberry silks, the life cycle of Bombyx mori, and the sequence from egg to fabric.
Core rules and concepts
- Sericulture is the science and practice of rearing silk-producing insects, including host-plant cultivation, silkworm rearing, cocoon production, reeling and weaving.
- Mulberry silk comes from Bombyx mori, which feeds on mulberry leaves. Non-mulberry silks include tasar from Antheraea species, eri from Samia ricini, and muga from Antheraea assamensis.
- The silkworm is holometabolous: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The larva has five instars and four moults; silk is spun by the mature fifth-instar larva.
- Silk filament has a fibroin core and sericin gum; reeling removes sericin and unwinds the filament.
- The industry chain runs from DFL production and mulberry farms through rearing, cocoon markets, reeling, twisting, weaving and finishing.
Worked example
A learner is given two cocoons: one white, oval and smooth from a mulberry garden; the other pedunculate and tough from a forest host. Reasoning: the first is Bombyx mori on mulberry and goes to reeling; the second is a tasar cocoon and is usually spun rather than reeled because its filament is discontinuous. Host plant and cocoon shape, not colour alone, support the classification.
Traps that cost marks
Calling silk a plant product; assuming all silk is mulberry; confusing pupa and cocoon; naming eri as a host plant; forgetting that one DFL is a disease-free laying, not a cocoon.