SERICULTURE

Sericulture is the science of silk production.It deals with a series of events that include rearing of silk worms on mulberry plants, collection & processing of silkworm cocoons to extract raw silk fibers from them & production of commercial silk.There are several commercial species of silkworms but most common is 'Bombyx mori '

THE LEGEND :-According to well-established Chinese legends, Empress Hsi Ling Shi, wife of Emperor Huang Ti, was the first person to accidentally discover silk as weavable fiber.
One day, when Empress was sipping tea under a mulberry tree, a cocoon fell into her cup & began to unravel.The Empress became so enamored with the shimmering threads, she discovered their source, the Bombyx mori silkworm found in white mulberry.The Empress was said to be the first to develop sericulture.Nearly 3 millennia, the Chinese had a global monopoly on silk production.
PROCEDURE:-

• The female moth lays many tiny eggs.

• After some days a tiny black caterpillar hatches out of its egg.

• The caterpillar eats mulberry leaves & grows bigger & bigger. It grows faster in 25 days

• during cocoon phase, caterpillars produce a secretion of two glands located in their head & when this secretion comes in contact with air it solidifies into fine threads of silk.

• The caterpillar spins a cocoon of silk threads around itself approximately 1000 yards.

• The cocoons are not allowed to become adult moths during commercial silk production process.

• They are collected from the mulberry plant and are immersed into boiling water in order to facilitate the extraction of silk from cocoons.