21% more productive Silkworm, assures Double income for farmers

Central Silk Board (CSB) has notified recently developed races of silkworm seed of mulberry and Vanya silk for increasing the productivity of cocoons and to increase the income of the farmers engaged in sericulture. Silk worm breeds for specific agro-climatic condition are essential for increasing the productivity of cocoons. Ministry of Textiles notified.

Tropical Tasar Silkworm (BDR-10)race developed by the CSB have 21% more productivity than the traditional Daba breed. Farmers can get upto 52 kg cocoons per 100 disease free layings (dfls). This silk worm breed will help the tribal farmers of Jharkhand, Chattishgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

Multivoltine x Bivoltine Mulberry hybrid(PM x FC2)race of silkworm can produce 60 kg per 100 Dfls and the race is better than earlier race PM x CSR. Due to high quality silk and significant egg recovery, this race is suitable for the farmers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra.

Eri Silkworm (C2) race has been found better than local breed and it can produce 247 numbers of Eri cocoons per 100 Dfls. This race is suitable for the farmers in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

The recently notified silkworm races will improve the income of the farmers by its enhanced productivity and quality. Central Silk Board under the Ministry of Textiles is engaged in applied research developing new breeds of races of silkworm seed and conducts extensive field trial before commercial use in the field.