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Chawki rearing centers (CRCs) play a pivotal role in the sericulture industry by focusing on the cultivation and rearing of high-quality silkworms, known as chawki. This study investigates the primary constraints faced by CRCs across various operational aspects, including agricultural practices, labor management, technical support, and market dynamics. Key findings reveal significant challenges such as the absence of drought-resistant mulberry varieties, high capital requirements for wages, labor shortages, and inadequate technical guidance. Natural factors like climate change and pest outbreaks further exacerbate these issues, impacting silkworm health and productivity. Marketing constraints, such as price volatility and transportation costs, add to the operational complexities of CRCs. The study underscores the need for coordinated efforts among government agencies, research institutions, and industry stakeholders to address these challenges and enhance the sustainability of chawki rearing in the sericulture sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economics of ericulture on cassava as well as tuber production under both irrigated and rainfed conditions in Tamil Nadu state was worked out. Gross income from cassava tuber (Rs. 84,112) and ericulture (Rs. 1,19,400) put together was estimated as Rs. 2,03,512 per hectare per crop and the net profit was Rs. 89,490 with the cost benefit ratio of 1: 1.78 under irrigated condition. However, in rainfed crop, the gross income from cassava tuber (Rs. 47,292) and ericulture (Rs. 33,300) put together was estimated as Rs. 80,592 per hectare per crop and the net profit was Rs. 33,946 with the cost benefit ratio of 1: 1.72. The study proved that ericulture on cassava cultivated in vast areas in Tamil Nadu under irrigated conditions can be employed as a tool of poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study was to find out the economically viable zone for sericulture technology in Tamil Nadu. Costs and returns from north western and western zone were estimated. The study showed that net return from cocoon production for north western zone and western zone were 270200.41 and 377153.36 ha/year. The output / input ratio of sericulture were higher than unity for both the zones i.e., 1:2.28 and 1:2.32 for north western zone and western zone. The estimated results showed that farmers of western zone of Tamil Nadu earned more profit than north western zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted among 200 randomly selected farmers in north western and western zones of Tamil Nadu. The knowledge and adoption level of technologies were analyzed using knowledge and adoption index for both the zones. Knowledge of sericulture technologies in north western and western zones were 77.02 per cent and 91.04 per cent respectively. The linear discriminate analysis revealed that, dfls/ha/year and price of cocoon were the factors highly discriminated the low and high adoption group of farmers. In north western zone, high cost of inputs and non availability of chawki worm centres whereas the main constraints in mulberry production and silkworm rearing, middlemen interference was considered as main constraint in marketing of cocoon. In western zone, non availability and high cost of human labour were considered as the main problem in mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing. Lack of competitive marketing was the Sericulture technology, major constraint in marketing of cocoons in western zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sericulture is an agro-based enterprise, highly suited to small and marginal farm holdings with less capital investment. Cocoon production involves two distinct activities namely, mulberry leaf production, which is the sole feed for silkworm and silkworm rearing. Both mulberry and silkworm are infested with a number of pests, which affect the cocoon quality and productivity resulting in economic loss to the farmers. Chemical control measure of pests is widely adopted by the farmers and its hazardous effects on human health and beneficial organisms are the least considered. Therefore, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques mainly involving suitable biological measures have been evolved and popularized for the control of mulberry and silkworm pests. However, despite the favourable results, the adoption level has remained low. In this context, a study was conducted in Thirunelveli and Virudunagar districts of Tamil Nadu with the information collected from 60 randomly selected farmers to understand the gap between available scientific knowledge in IPM practices and its adoption by sericulture farmers. The results revealed that there was the highest technological gap (87.60 %) in the adoption of biological control measures against the mulberry pests whereas the gap with cultural/ mechanical practices was 33.30 % and minimum 9.80% in the adoption of chemical measures. In case of management of uzifly menace on silkworms, there was no technological gap with respect to mechanical method of using nylon net to prevent the entry of uzifly inside the rearing house, whereas the technological gap of 77.00 % and 71.50% was observed for biological and chemical control methods, respectively. Thus, the IPM practices with the special emphasis on biocontrol method needs to be popularized among the farmers by intensified extension efforts for wider adoption at the farmer's level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirunelveli and Virudunagar districts of southern Tamil Nadu have congenial agro-climatic conditions to practice sericulture. However, sericulture development is still in nascent stage in these two districts with the area under mulberry of 419.92 and 107.80 ha, respectively. The farmers would accept sericulture as a viable occupation only if it is more profitable than the major crops cultivated in the area. Therefore, the economics of sericulture was compared with the major crops namely, paddy, maize, green gram, sugarcane and cotton cultivated in Thirunelveli and Virudunagar districts. The results of the study indicated that the profit earned from sericulture was comparatively higher than that of all other major crops cultivated in the area. This shows that sericulture has potential for development in Thirunelveli and Virudunagar districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted in Udumalpet and Krishnagiri areas in Tamil Nadu to measure the level of knowledge and adoption of new sericulture technologies and also to find out the extent of the association of the socio-economic characteristics of the small mulberry farm size holders in determining the level of knowledge and adoption. The knowledge and adoption level in Udumalpet was found to be higher when compared to the same in Krishnagiri as evident from the knowledge and adoption indices worked out. The knowledge and adoption indices in Udumalpet were to an extent of 88.5% and 77.2% and the same in Krishnagiri were to an extent of 72.0 % and 54.7% respectively. The variables scientific orientation, extension contact and extension participation in Udumalpet and in Krishnagiri cocoon yield, extension participation, mass media participation and social participation were found to have positive and significant relationship with the knowledge. In Udumalpet the variables such as dfls consumption, cocoon yield/acre/year, income, training scientific orientation, and mass media participation were found to have positively significant and experience was found to have highly significant relationship with adoption. In Krishnagiri cocoon yield/acre/year, extension participation, mass media participation and social participation were found to have positive and significant relationship with knowledge and training alone was found to have positive and significant relationship with the adoption. The main constraints faced by the sample farmers were lack of full awareness, high cost and non-availability of quality in-puts, labour intensiveness of the technology and uncertainty in crop Success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A preliminary survey on the incidence of silkworm diseases in ten selected sericulture farms near Srivilliputhur, a hub of sericulture activity in the Virudhunagar district of Tamilnadu, India showed that the incidence of the bacterial diseases, flacherie is quiet common in this region followed by the fungal diseases, muscardine and the viral diseases, Grassarie. Biochemical characterization of the microbes in the haemolymph of diseased silkworm collected during the survey indicated the presence of Bacillussp., Streptococcussp., Staphylococcus sp. and Pseudomonassp. in the culture. The nature of fungal species however, could not be ascertained due to several handicaps including the difficulties encountered during their culture. Studies were carried out in vitro to assess the efficacy of some herbal extracts for the containment of these microbes through turbidimetry analysis and zone of inhibition test. The observations made during this study revealed that the aqueous and alcoholic crude extracts of three herbs such as, Acalypha indica, Ocimum sanctum and Tridax procumbensare effective against these microbes causing flacherie and muscardine diseases in silkworm. The comparison of their effects indicated that alcoholic extracts were generally more effective than aqueous extracts and that the extracts of Tridax procumbensare very effective against these microbial pathogens followed by the extracts from Ocimum sanctum and Acalypha indica. Extensive studies using these extracts on the growth and cocoon production of the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L. are likely to throw much light on the possibility of using such extracts as a prophylactic measure during silkworm rearing to improve silk production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of sericulture industry is mainly based on proper and highly efficient marketing which assures good prices to the farmers. Efficient marketing helps in minimizing wide fluctuations in cocoon prices. It is found that fluctuations are due to variations in cocoon quality, absence of quality control, intervention of middlemen and poor marketing facilities. The prices paid to the cocoons continue to hover around within a narrow range, despite the award of prices to different grades of cocoons through bidding in an open auction. Women are preferred because of their nature, patience and hard work and hence they are employed in mulberry garden or silkworm rearing in a grainage or weaving center, etc. However, their work has not always been recognized or rewarded. Though sericulture is lucrative by nature, it faces various problems in aspects of cultivation and marketing. The problems faced by sericulturists mainly relate to insufficient financial support from government agencies, climatic hazards, wide fluctuations in cocoon prices and also, to some extent, inadequacy of extension services. This study reveals problems like rearing sheds, lack of awareness, low literacy level, poor infrastructure, etc. The availability of cocoon throughout the year can ensure the extension agency and the rearer of regular buyers in the market a better price. The better price received by the silk worm farmers is the major reason for the high profitability of the enterprise. On the basis of the findings of the present study, various recommendations have been offered. If these recommendations are followed properly, it will pave the way for increased production of mulberry cocoons, leading to an increase in foreign exchange earnings, besides giving a larger employment opportunity to the farm families, silk yarn reeling silk weavers and the like in the silk industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like agriculture, technological breakthrough took place in Indian sericulture after 1990s. The introduction of high yielding mulberry varieties such as V1 and S36 and silkworm races like CSR2 x CSR4 (bivoltine hybrids) and PM x CSR2 (crossbreed) have had a greater impact on productivity and quality of silk cocoon. This has helped to produce international grade silks (2A and 4A). Gobichettipalayam of Erode District and Udumalpet of Coimbatore District are the major bivoltine cocoon producing clusters in the State of Tamil Nadu. An attempt has been made in this paper to find out the impact of new technologies on income from sericulture. A field study was performed to estimate the costs and returns of two groups of farmers, viz., Group 1 (technology adopters) and Group 2 (technology non-adopters). The cost and benefit ratios were estimated to be 1:1.73 and 1:1.63 for Groups 1 and 2 farmers respectively. In general, in both the regions, the farmers possess entrepreneurial attitude and risk-taking nature. Moreover, returns from sericulture are higher than those of other agricultural crops. To overcome the major problems of marketing of cocoon and price instability, suitable policy measures, such as minimum support price for commercial cocoons is to be fixed in order to promote bivoltine cocoon production in the study regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research on the economics of mulberry and silkworm cocoon production in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu, India. Burgeoning growth of sericulture in that area reportedly is associated with the use of bivoltine sericultural technologies that have enhanced cocoon productivity. The article discusses a 2006-2007 survey of 100 silk farmers on the costs and returns associated with mulberry leaf and silkworm production.