Sericulture, Silkworms, and The Methods Of Rearing Silk

Silk yarn India | Muezart India

Most of us might know that silk and silk worms are some of the precious gifts of nature. 

As far as the history of sericulture is concerned, this artform traces its origins to ancient China. It is believed that a Chinese Empress is credited with the propagation of silkworm rearing after a cocoon fell in her hot drink.

Silk is indeed the queen of textiles, which is made from natural fibers secreted by insects of different species like spiders, mussels and, most prominently, silkworms. The production of raw silk from worms is indeed an incredibly unique process. 

Well, they are actually caterpillars, not worms, since they are the larval stage of moths. Almost all the silk yarns which adorn people or home today are produced by silkworms that are domesticated and reared for such special purposes. 

What is Sericulture?

Sericulture is the process of rearing silkworms for the production of raw silk. It involves a long process of rearing silkworms from eggs to cocoon.

Throughout this process, the silkworms are looked after and are fed leaves from specific plants (usually Mulberry plants). Rearers must ensure the silkworms get plenty of food during their larval growth to ensure complete metamorphosis.

Thus, sericulture includes cultivating and maintaining these food plants as well (Moriculture). But then again, there are some kinds of silk whose threads are produced by wild or semi-wild silkworms.

They feed on leaves of trees like Som and Oak in open forests. Rearers must ensure the silkworms get plenty of food during their larval growth to ensure complete metamorphosis.

Once the silkworms have completed their larval cycles they turn into pupae, similar to chrysalis in butterflies, after wrapping themselves up with fine threads in a cocoon.

The rearers harvest the cocoons once the pupae reaches its maturity phase (before they emerge as moths). The harvesting process is called rearing.

4 of the most well known silk varieties found in India are Mulberry, Eri, Muga, and Tasar. Each silk is reared in its own different way and possesses its own unique properties.

Sericulture in India

Did you know that India is the second largest producer of silk in the world, the first being China of course. And even though Mulberry silk represents more than half of the total production, India is known to be the only country to produce all 4 of the most well-known commercial silks available.

Predominantly, the workforce in the sericulture industry in India is comprised primarily of women, but most of these women come from economically weaker sections of society.

Muezart  witnessed this obstacle firsthand with the Eri silk weavers and spinners here in Meghalaya and decided to change the situation. Today, Muezart works with over 90+ weavers and spinners, reviving traditions and empowering entrepreneurial mindsets.

Types of Silkworm Rearing

As a natural fiber, silk needs no introduction. It is renewable, eco-friendly, and durable. 

Because of its naturally attained fineness, beautiful luster and luxurious elegance, the demand for silk is rising everyday.

India is in fact the highest importer of silk and is the second largest producer of silk yarns after China. Unlike other natural fibers where the farmer has to do much of the work, with silk, the silkworms produce silk at the finest level with the most beautiful lustrous threads ever seen.

The rearers just need to ensure that the silkworms are fed with the right food plants and are kept in the right environment, away from predators.

Silkworm rearing are for four types of silk – Mulberry, Eri, Muga, and Tasar.

Eri Silk India | Muezart Eri Silk

HERE AT MUEZART, WE PORTRAY THE TRADITIONAL METHODS OF REARING PRACTICED IN NORTHEAST INDIA, ESPECIALLY ASSAM AND MEGHALAYA.

Mulberry Silk Rearing

95% of the world’s silk production is mulberry. This silk comes from the silkworms of the moths Bombyx mori that feed on the leaves of the mulberry plant, Morus indica.

Mulberry plants are perennial trees with wide-spreading branches and are sometimes confused for bushes. The trees are specially cultivated, manured and cared for to provide food for the silkworms. The Mulberry plant is considered as important plant in sericulture as it is extensively used as food for the silkworms. 

Mulberry silk rearing needs space, equipment, the right temperature, and stable humidity levels. Therefore, special rearing houses are constructed to ensure that these conditions are met.

The silkworms are reared on shelves of rearing trays arranged in tiers that number up to ten. This is the most economical method as the trays are placed in a vertical arrangement which allows for more eggs to be placed in a limited space.

Another method is ‘shoot’ rearing which can accommodate up to two or three tiers of certain dimensions. Then there is the floor method where the silkworms are reared on a raised platform a few inches off the floor.

Eri Silk worms | Muezart Eri Silk India

SILKWORMS ARE VERY SENSITIVE CREATURES AND NEED PROTECTION FROM INSECTS, FLIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS. MOSQUITO NETS ARE OFTEN PROVIDED FOR PROTECTION FROM FLIES AND LIZARDS. THE UZI FLY IS ONE PARTICULARLY DESTRUCTIVE INSECT WHICH LAYS EGGS ON SILKWORMS. THE LARVAE THEN FEED ON THEM, KILLING THE SILKWORMS.

Mulberry leaves are harvested and chopped into fine pieces to feed the larvae. Silkworms are voracious and finicky eaters, so great care is taken to feed them with the right leaves depending upon their maturity.

Things that need to be considered are younger worms or the ones which are newly hatched need tender leaves and leaves should not be wet with water.

The life cycle of the silkworm larva is divided into ‘instars’ or molting stages. Since they are voracious eaters, larvae must continually shed their skin as they grow bigger and bigger. In fact, they can grow 10,000 times their size since birth.

The first instar or the ‘pinhead stage’ occurs as soon as the egg hatches. The second instar is when the first molt takes place. The third and final instar is the ‘blue egg’ stage when the larva excretes all the excreta and turns translucent and yellowish in color.

At this stage, the larvae are taken and placed on trays called ‘chandriki’ where they will start spinning cocoons. The worm stays inside the cocoon for about 10 days to finally emerge as an adult moth.

But in mulberry silk rearing, the moths are not allowed to emerge out of the cocoons. Since the cocoons do not have a natural opening and being a filament silk, the emerging of the moth causes the moth to eat its’ way out. So, the thread breaks when this happens, reducing the value of the silk. The moths are therefore killed before they could come out to obtain the maximum and continuous length of the thread.

Muga Silk Rearing

Muga silk fibre is unique to Northeast India, where it originated. It is well-known since the days of ancient Kamrupa – ancient Assam.

The muga silkworm is called Antheraea assama and muga yarn has a rich golden or light brown color which is why it is called the golden thread.

Even today muga is the sole silk fibre of Northeast India, particularly Assam and Meghalaya. Muga silk rearing is the toughest of all types of silkworm rearing because it has to be done outdoors on the trees themselves.

Only during the egg-laying process, rearing is done indoors on small sticks or sun grass. Once the eggs hatch, the tiny worms are fed with water and tender plant leaves and are then taken outdoors to the food trees, that is the Som, or Machilus bombycina tree.

Placed at the foot of the trees, the larvae then crawl up and start eating the tree leaves. As they grow in size, they molt four times bigger.

Sometimes a particular leaf is not edible for the larvae. In that case, they will crawl down and the rearers will have to be watchful, collecting them carefully in bamboo sieves and taking them to another tree.  

Rearing muga silkworms is fraught with problems like weather, temperature, predators such as birds, lizards, and disasters like forest fires and cyclones. The rearers have their hands full all the time.

Like other larvae, muga silkworms eat voraciously, 1000 silkworms need one big tree or two medium-sized trees during their entire larval period.

Once they mature, they crawl down to the foot of the tree and start spinning their cocoons. Rearers then collect them and place them in baskets of dry leaves allowing them to complete their cocoon spinning process. It takes 7 to 10 days of spinning before the moth larvae becomes pupae.

During the summer,  they remain in the pupa stage for nearly 3 weeks. In winter it can take up to 2 months.

Before the pupae emerge out of the cocoon and metamorphose into a silk moth, they are stifled by boiling or heating to prevent them from cutting the cocoons. Like in mulberry silk, this makes it possible to reel in the threads, otherwise, filaments from cut cocoons cannot be reeled, reducing the value of the silk.

Eri Silk Rearing

The Eri silkworm, Philosomia ricini is easier to rear than mulberry and muga silkworms. The rearing is done indoors where certain conditions are maintained. The worms require an ambient temperature of around 27°C and relative humidity of around 70%, adequate ventilation with adequate lighting and protection from insects, pests and fires have to be ensured.

Having sufficient provision of food plant leaves for the silkworms is important. The most common food leaves of the Eri silkworms are that of the castor plant, Ricinus communis.

As soon as the worms hatch they begin feeding. The young worms are fed tender leaves. In later stages, the leaves are adjusted according to the maturity of the worms.

The larval period can last 17 to 45 days, depending on the type of food given and the season of rearing. Rearers collect the castor leaves in bundles of bamboo poles. They replenish the leaves with water about 4 times a day.

Handloom India | Muezart Eri silk

ERI IS INDIGENOUS TO MEGHALAYA SINCE IMMEMORIAL TIMES. THE ERI SILKWORM IS ‘MULTIVOLTINE’, THAT IS REARED 5 OR 6 TIMES A YEAR.

Eri larvae molt up to 5 times or instars, shedding their skins as they increase in size. When the larvae are fully matured they excrete their last excreta and began searching for a place to start the cocooning process.

Their bodies turn translucent and that is when the rearers put them on trays called ‘chandriki’ where they will find places to spin their cocoons.

Cocooning process takes 3-5 days to finish. They are ready for harvest within 7-11 days depending on the season, winter being the longest.

Reeling, De-gumming, and Twisting

Mulberry Silk Reeling

The mulberry silk worms are killed usually by boiling or by stifling with hot air in a chamber and then the threads are reeled.

At this stage, the threads are untwisted and still contains sericin, a protein that coats the thread. This is still a raw silk thread. To remove the sericin, cocoons are loosened by boiling. The floss that forms is removed, and the filament ends are gathered and twisted.

Once the threads are removed of sericin (de-gumming) and the threads are twisted, the raw silk becomes silk yarn which is then made into skeins, hanks or wound on cones for further textile application.

Eri Silk Spinning

Unlike other silks, Eri silk thread is never reeled but is spun like cotton. Eri silkworms are also never killed. They cut the cocoons themselves or are taken out by hand.

The Eri silk cocoons are then boiled in alkaline solutions and then worked with fingers for extraction. They are then washed in hot water to remove the alkali, after which they are flattened and dried in the sun.

Finally, spinning is done using simple, traditional ‘takli’ and spinning wheel or ‘charkha’.

What is Weaving?

The next process is weaving which follows in sequence when cocoons are processed further. Silver is then extracted from the cocoons by unwinding or spinning the filaments, twisting them into threads and finally weaving the silk yarn into fabrics.

Mulberry Silk Weaving

In Northeast India, silk weaving is more of a traditional kind with Sualkuchi in Assam being the traditional silk industry town. They make traditional Assamese dresses, saris as well as jainsems and dharas of the Khasis.

The skilled weavers can produce designs of any intricacy. Mulberry silk weaving is one of them.

Weaving India | Muezart Eri silk

MULBERRY SILK IS SO VERSATILE IT CAN BE WOVEN INTO SUCH A WIDE ARRAY OF FABRICS. IT BLENDS PERFECTLY WITH OTHER FABRICS TOO.
 

Muga Weaving

In Northeast India, muga silk fabric weaving is still largely done in traditional looms, both fly and throw the shuttle. The weavers use mostly single-ply twisted yarn for the warp and single or double-ply twisted yarn for the weft.

This gives a patterned design to a plain weave, with an elegance of its own. Besides elegance, muga is durable and has a beautiful golden color which appeals enormously. Traditional attire of the Assamese and Khasi people look a class apart when weaved with muga.

Eri Weaving

Eri silk yarn possesses a natural cream color. It is great for winter clothing while remaining cool in the summer. Traditional weavers love to use yarn made with ‘takli’ for wrapping because it has the right twist, firmness, and strength. Yarn produced with the ‘charkha’ is used for the weft.

Eri silk blends well with other silks and can create elegant shawls, stoles, and turbans, as well as non-clothing items like bed linen, furnishings, and silk screens.

Unlike other silk, Eri has the softness and durability combined with ease of maintenance, besides being washable.

There is an urge to bring about more mechanization in silk production in the Northeast. Silk producers, both rearers of silkworms and artisans of silk fabrics of the region are a badgered lot.

The silk production industry is without a doubt eco-friendly, sustainable and renewable. Silk fabrics are unparalleled in terms of luxury; they are the ultimate attractions of Haute-courtier.

Silk is natural, health-friendly, and eco-friendly. The industry also has a lot to offer in terms of rural employment for economic sustenance and advancement of the people.

 

 


1 comment


  • Dr. Cheenepalli Ravi Shankara

    There is 4th type of silkworm, the tasar silkworm, Antherea mylitta. No mention about it!@


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