Silk is another valuable product from the insect world. The silk is obtained as fine threads from the cocoons of various species of silkworms.
Sericulture is the scientific management of production and marketing of natural silk from silkworms
The sericulture plays a significant role in the rural economy of our country. The Chinese have the credit of discovering silk. It was kept as a secret for several centuries. India now occupies a unique position in the world for its rich sericigenous fauna to produce pure mulberry silk as well as the three other varieties of non-mulberry silks.
The raw silk is used in the manufacture of woven materials, knitted fabrics and garments. It is also used in parachutes, parachute cords, fishing lines, as sieves in flour mills, insulation coil for telephones and wireless receivers, and tyres of racing cars.
The process of silk production is known as sericulture. Mining raw silk twitches by humanizing the silkworms on mulberry leaves and worms start pupating in their cocoons and then these are dissolved in hot boiling water in order for individual long fibres to be extracted and fed into the spinning reel.
Silk worms don’t live past this stage because they are boiled inside their cocoons and begin unscrambling or separating to obtain silk.
Nearly around 6700 silk worms are killed to make 1kg of Silk.
Silkworm eats only mulberry leaves.
Do silk worm lay eggs?
Yes they do lay eggs and they are farmed as well for eggs to obtain the process of silk from silk worm from farms.
They don’t bike as they are worms similar like earth worm but they do not bite, harm.