General Sericulture

Silk is fibrous protein of animal origin. A number of organisms secrete silk, which used by them for anchorage, entangling their prey or forming a protective sheath with or without other materials. Nearly 400-500 species are known to produce silk but only very few are commercially exploited. Silk is classified into insect silk and non insect silk. Insect silk is commercially more important. The majority of silk producing insects belong to the Order Lepidoptera, Super family Bombycoidea and Families Bombycidae or Saturniidae. Nearly 75% of commercial insect silk comes from the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori and is known as mulberry silk. Commercial silk from all other sources is collectively called non-mulberry silks or vanya silks or wild silks.
The silk obtained from the different sources particularly that obtained from the mulberry silkworm is a natural fibre used in textile. It is soft, smooth and lustrous and holds a prestigious place among textile fibres to the extent to be called the ‘Queen of Textiles’. Mulberry silkworm is a monophagous insect, which feeds only on mulberry leaves. Mulberry includes a number of species and varieties. They differ in their suitability for silkworm rearing because of their varying nutritious value and palatability for the silkworm. Mulberry sericulture involves the cultivation of mulberry to produce leaf, rearing of silkworm to convert leaf to cocoon, reeling of cocoons to obtain silk yarn and weaving to convert yarn to fabrics.

The silk is obtained from both insect and non-insect fauna. The insect fauna mainly comprises of mulberry and non-mulberry silkworms. In India, mulberry silk contribute to an extent 75% and it is a natural fibre used in textile industry. It is soft, smooth and lustrous and holds a prestigious place among textile fibres and commonly called as the ‘Queen of Textiles’. Mulberry silkworm is a monophagous insect, which feeds only on mulberry leaves. Mulberry includes a number of species and varieties. Mulberry sericulture involves the cultivation of mulberry to produce leaf, rearing of silkworm to convert leaf to cocoon, reeling of cocoons to obtain silk yarn and weaving to convert yarn to fabrics.

COURSE LAYOUT

Week – I | 1. Introduction to Sericulture | 2. Origin and History of Sericulture | 3. Silk Route |
Week – II | 4. Components of Sericulture | 5. Sericulture Industry in India | 6. Central Silk Board | 7. Types of Cocoon and Silk |
Week – III | 8. Mulberry Sericulture | 9. The genus Morus and its Species | 10. Popular Mulberry Cultivars in Karnataka and India | 11.Non-Mulberry and its Food Plants |
Week - IV | 12. Classification of Mulberry Silkworm | 13. Sericigenous Fauna | 14. Silkworm Races | 15. Different Species of Non-Mulberry Silkworms |
Week – V | 16. Mulberry Nutrition | 17. Mulberry Cultivation in Irrigated and Rainfed Gardens | 18. Soil Type of India | 19. Soil for Mulberry|
Week – VI | 20. History of Reeling Industry | 21. Qualities of Different Types of Textiles | 22. Advantages of Silk Fibre | 23. Constraints in Silk Production |
Week – VII | 24. Different Types of Cocoon | 25. Cocoon Testing and Grading | 26.Types of Cocoon Boiling |
Week - VIII | 27. Reeling Machinery | 28. Reeling Process | 29. Reeling Water | 30.Types Reeling Machine |
Week – IX | 31. Twisting and Weaving | 32. Raw Silk Testing and Grading | 33. Silk ‘Queen of Fibers’ |
Week - X | 34. Power loom | 35. Cocoon Marketing and Silk | 36. Women in Sericulture |
Week - XI | 37. Mechanization in Sericulture | 38.Sericulture vis-a-vis other Agricultural Enterprises | 39. Income and Employment Generation in Sericulture | 40. Problems and Prospects of Sericulture |