रेशमकीट का परिचय और कृषि क्षेत्र में उनकी भूमिका

The silk moth (Bombyx mori) is a butterfly that caterpillars have used for silk production (sericulture) for thousands of years. Although native to China, silk moths have been introduced around the world, are completely domesticated, and are no longer found in the wild.

Adult silk moths have wingspans of 40 to 50 mm (about 2 inches), are thick and have bristles (adult females are larger than adult males). It is usually blonde to light brown, with a light dark band running on its body. The wings are cream-colored and have dark veins extending to the edges.

Adults do not eat during the short adulthood of a few days because the mouth area is diminished or absent. Neither can fly. However, males perform a flutter dance, a mating ritual caused by the secretion of female pheromones known as bombykol.

Females lay about 300 to 500 eggs and hatch in about 7 to 14 days at temperatures of 24 to 29 ° C (about 75 to 85 ° F).

Newly hatched larvae are approximately 2-3 mm (0.08-0.12 inches) long and have a greedy appetite. In addition to the natural diet of mulberry leaves, silk moths also eat osage orange and lettuce leaves.

Pale larvae have distinctive posterior (caudal) horns. It reaches a maximum length of 75 mm (about 3 inches) during the 45-day growth period. Pupation occurs in cocoons consisting of continuous strands of white or yellow silk, averaging about 915 meters (1,000 yards) in length. 

This filament is kept intact for commercial use by killing the pupae with hot air or steam. Silk moths whose genome has been genetically modified by introducing the spider silk gene produce silk that is stronger, stronger, and more elastic than domesticated silk moths.

The silk production is called sericulture contain cultivation of mulberry, silkworm rearing and activities leading to production of silk yarn. Sericulture gives gainful employment and improvement in the quality of life to the people in rural area.

Scientific name of Silkworm – Bombyx mori , Family            - Bomabycidae

Types of Silk:

Mulberry silk -

Mulberry silk is considered to superior. Mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori. Bivoltine silk is qualitatively superior to multivoltine silk. India produces 90 percent of mulberry silk. Mulberry sericulture is produced in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu.

Muga silk -

India produces Muga silk in word. The contributation of muga silk 2 percent to the country’s total raw silk production. Muga silk worms are not reared in side houses like mulberry silkworm. These silkworms feed leaves of Som and Soalu plants.

Eri Silk –

Eri silk is produced in Assam, Bihar and West Bengal. Now, it is being practised commercially in other parts of the country also. This silkworm feeds on castor is also called Erunda or Endi.

Tasar silkworms –

The genus Antheraea are used in commercial production. These are reared on tree Asan and Arjun in open condation. The production of tasar silk in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa, besides Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Rearing process:

Disinfection:

It is the most important opera­tion that prior to the starting of rearing. Disinfection of rear­ing places is carried out by physical (sunlight, steam and hot air) and chemical (chloramine, hexachlorophene, formaldehyde as, bleaching powder) methods.

Brushing:

Brushing is the separation of newly hatched larvae from their egg shells and transferring them to rearing trays from the egg cards.

Feeding the Larvae:

The young worm is fed of leaves that to be given per feeding. The amount of food depends on races and voltinism of the moths. Several feeding stages can be noticed during their development, viz., and active feeding stage when larvae feed maximum during the instar, sparsely feeding stage when they eat less, usually at premoulting stage when larvae empty their gut; non-feeding stage when the larvae do not take any food usually during moulting. Avoid feeding of solid leaves. The highest amount of food is taken by 4^th and 5^th instar larvae.

Spacing:

The silkworm increase their weight and size many time from the previous instar. Crowded situation in rearing trays results in increased humidity, heat, fermentation of litter, all of which will in turn cause under development of larvae, wastage of feeding leaf and unhygienic condition. To provide space for the growing worm, the rearing space has to be extended at each stage.

Bed Cleaning:

Remove the unconsumed leaves after each feeding, exuviae after moulting, excreta, dead or diseased larvae, etc from rearing try.  If not cleaned, combine to form a thick and damp litter that promotes the growth of different micro-organisms, generation of injurious gases and depletion of oxygen. Bed cleaning is done for per molt.

Caring during Moulting:

The moulting occurs four times during this time, the worm stopped feeding, wriggles removed old skin and accompanied with a new, soft skin. keeping the bed dry and disinfected either by dusitng Resham Keed Oushad (RKO), formulated by CSR.

Mounting: Mounting is the procedure of transferring the ripe worms to the mountages. The ripe worms exude silk, spin the cocoon around itself and transformed into the pupa inside it. After metamorphosis pupa change into adult moth comes out the cocoon.

Fig.: 1 Life Cycle of Silkworm

Importance:

• It is provided employment for rural peoples
• It employment provided short tram investment.
• It provided nutritional values like protein and vitamin.  
• The silk are use in textile industries. Raw silk is used for clothing such as shirts, suits, ties, blouses lingerie, pajamas, and jackets.
• It is used for Carpet, furnishing, curtains, draperies, cushion covers and sofa covers wall hanging.
• It is used in surgery for internal suturing is made from silk glands.
• Silkworm is very much useful for genetic experiments in biotechnology.
• Silk is used as raw material for preparing sound-free gears for making precision machinery.

Conclusion:

Silk moth farming plays an important role in the process of economic development in India. Silk moth farming not only provides a variety of food to the country, but also frees the labor force, creates savings, contributes to the industrial product market and earns forex.

However, the sericulture industry was the most important contribution of industrial treads to the national income of at the time of India's independence.

This sector is directly and indirectly more profitable for the economy. Sector change is driven by factors such as new interest in the organized sector, new and improved technologies, mechanized agriculture, rapid growth of contract agriculture, and organic farming.

Bibliography:

Annual Report of Sericulture 2016. Central silk Board, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, Bangalore. pp 1-28.

 Anitha, R. 2011. Indian silk industry in the global scenario. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies, 1, 100-110.

Best, M. L., & Maier, S. G. 2007. Gender, culture and ICT use in rural South India. Gender Technology and Development, 11, 137-155.

Bhatta, R., & Rao, K. A 2003. Women’s livelihood in fisheries in coastal Karnataka, India. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 10, 261-278.

Bhatikar, A.P. 1985. Sericulture and rural industrialization (part I). Indian Silk, 24 (2):7-16.

Chadha, G. K 1993. Non- farm employment for rural households in india; Evidence and prognosis. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 36(3); 296-327.

Dewangan, S.K. 2011 Socio economic upliftment of Tribal through Tasar sericulture- a study of Tamnar block of Raigarh district, C.G, India. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, (72) p p: 481-492.

Kamalamma, N., Mridula Reddy, D. and Josephine Ibrahim 1995. Sericulture - a lucrative cottage industry: a case study, Kurukshetra, pp 37- 38.

Trivedi, S., & Sarkar, K. 2015. Comparative study on income generation through agriculture cropand sericulture at farmer’s level in Murshidabad district. Journal of Entomology and zoology Studies.

Authors:

Vikas Chauhan¹, Vishal Gandhi², Neha Sharma³ & Shachini Anuradha⁴

^1,2,3Assistant Professor, Chandigarh School of Business (CSB), Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC), Jhanjeri (Mohali), India

⁴Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Cumaratunga Munidasa Mw, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

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