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Sericulture


Introduction

Sericulture is an agro industry (combining both agriculture and industry), the end product of which is silk. It is a labour intensive activity providing direct and indirect employment to a large number of families. India has the unique distinction of producing all the four types of silk viz., mulberry, muga, tasar and eri.  About 14% of the global raw silk is produced in India, of which more than 65% is mulberry silk, mostly produced in Karnataka. Besides meeting the ever growing domestic demand, silk in its various forms is also exported and this sector is one of the important foreign exchange earner for the country. Of the factors responsible for increasing the production of silk the quality of mulberry plays the most important role.

Climate and Soil
Mulberry is a perennial plant and once established in the field, continues to produce in full form for at least 15 years.  Though arboreal in nature, it is trained as low bush for commercial exploitation.  Mulberry is a hardy plant  and can tolerate varied range of agro-climatic conditions.  However, the most suitable range of conditions include a temperature range of 20-300C with sunshine of 9.00 to 13.00 hours per day.  On an average, mulberry requires 50 to 60 mm of water  once in a week.  Under such conditions (prevailing in southern tropics of India), 5-6 crops can be harvested in a year, whereas in temperate conditions, 2-3 crops are harvested.

As mulberry is a deep-rooted plant, the soil for of mulberry garden should be fertile, deep, friable, sandy loam to clayey loam in texture and porous with good water holding capacity.  Soils with a pH range of 6.5 to 7.5 are ideal.  

 

 
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