Production

Silkworm larvae are fed on mulberry leaves and after the fourth molt, they climb a twig placed near them and spin their silken cocoons. The silk is a continuous- filament fibre consisting of fibroin protein, secreted from two salivary glands in the head of each larva, and a gum called sericin, which cements the two filament together. The sericin is removed by placing the cocoons in hot water, which frees silk filaments and readies them for reeling. The immersion of cocoons in hot water also kills the silkworm larvae.

In India, silk worms thrive on the leaves of mulberry, mahua, sal, her, and kusum trees. India ranks third among the silk producing countries of the world. In India, about 4.5 lakh hectares of area is under mulberry cultivation. Silk production is mainly confined to areas between 15° and 34° N latitudes. About 55 lakh people are engaged in this industry.

The state of Karnataka is the largest producer of raw silk (65%) follwed by Andhra Pradesh (17%) West Bengal (8%), Tamil Nadu (5%), Assam (2.5%) andjammu & Kashmir (1.2%), Limited quantity of mulberry silk is also produced in Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The growth pattern of mulberry cultivation has been given in Table 9.18.

Table 9.18 Trend in Raw Silk Production

Source: Statistical Abstracts India, 2005-06.

It may be seen from the Table 9.18 that in 1950—51 the raw silk production was 52.50 lakh kg. which rose to 167 lakh kg. in 2005-06. Silk production has a great future in India.