History

Sericulture is an agro-based industry. It involves rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk, which is the yarn obtained out of cocoons spun by certain species of insects. The major activities of sericulture comprises of food-plant cultivation to feed the silkworms which spin silk cocoons and reeling the cocoons for unwinding the silk filament for value added benefits such as processing and weaving.

Sericulture, or silk production, from the moth, Bombyx mori (L.), has a long and colorful history unknown to most people. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, B. mori is the most widely used and intensively studied, and techniques for its rearing are the most improved. This insect is the sole living species in its family, Bombycidae, and has been domesticated for so long that it probably no longer survives in the wild.

According to Chinese records, the discovery of silk production from B. mori occurred about 2,700 B.C. Chinese legend states that the great prince, Hoang-ti, directed his wife, Si-ling-chi, to examine the silkworm and test the practicability of using the thread. Thereafter, Si-ling-chi discovered not only the means of raising silkworms, but also the manner of reeling the silk, and of employing it to make garments. Is-lingo-chi was later deified for her work and honored with the name Seine-Than, or “The Goddess of Silk Worms”. Sericulture during the following centuries spread through China and silk became a precious commodity highly sought by other countries. In 139 B.C., the world’s longest highway was opened, and stretched from Eastern China to the Mediterranean sea. In addition to tangible commodities such as gold and jade, new ideas and religions also passed along this road. This road was the historically famous “Silk Road,” named after its most important commodity. By the middle of the first century A.D., writers in Rome were complaining about the sumptuous silk garments that rendered women naked in the streets. But the Chinese had guarded the secrets of sericulture so closely the early Romans never learned it, and Virgil thought the thread was derived from combing the fuzz off leaves.

In spite of their secrecy, however, the Chinese were destined to lose their monopoly on silk production. Sericulture reached Japan through Korea, but not before the early part of the third century A.D. Shortly after 300 A.D., sericulture traveled Westward and the cultivation of the silkworm was established in India. According to tradition, the egg of the insect and the seed of the mulberry tree were carried to India concealed in the headdress of a Chinese princess. The emperor Justinian gained the secrets of sericulture for the Roman Empire in 522 A.D., with the smuggling of the silk worm eggs form China by Persian monks. With China’s monopoly on sericulture broken, silk importations from China became smaller and smaller. In 877 A.D., the rebel chief Biachu captured Canfu, the center of foreign silk trade, put to death all its inhabitants, destroyed all of the mulberry trees and silkworms of the region, and levied heavy and cruel taxes on all foreign trade. These actions stopped foreign commerce in China for more than 60 years. However, by this time, silk production was so well established in western Asia and eastern Europe that this wholesale destruction hardly effected the price of silk in the rest of the world. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans also produced several major advancements in silk production. England by the 18th century led Europe in silk manufacturing because of English innovations in the textile industry. These innovations included improved silk-weaving looms, power looms and roller printing. In 1801, A Frenchman named Joseph Jacquard exhibited his new machine foe figured-silk weaving and gradually spread through the industry. The great French scientist, Louis Pasteur, rescued the silk industry in 1870 by showing that the then epidemic Pebrine disease of silk-worms could be controlled by prevention through simple microscopic examination of adult moths. These advances set the trend for a more mechanized and scientific approach to silk production than existed previously.

Sericulture has also been attempted in the United States, but these endeavors have been sporadic and largely unsuccessful. Sericulture was carried on to some extent by the early colonists of Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, and was introduced into New England about 1660. In 1831, a manual on sericulture was published by J.H. Cobb, copies of which were purchased by the Congress of the United States for distribution by members. Following publication of this book, there was a determined effort to establish silk culture on a firm basis in the United States. This interest in silk culture soon led to what was known as the “Mormus multicaulis craze.” Anticipating a most profitable investment, if not speedy riches, thousands of individuals purchased mulberry plants of the M. multicaulis species and planted large areas of valuable land. The investments far exceeded possible returns, and heavy frosts destroyed plantations of trees. In the course of a few years, many failures and great disappointments caused so complete a revulsion of feeling that silk culture was practically abandoned all through the States. However, because confederate cotton was unavailable during and shortly after the Civil War, the Union States were forced to seek a new source of fiber. Thus in 1869, Professor L. Trouvelot, an American naturalist, brought eggs of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), from France to Massachusetts. Trouvelot had hoped to produce a commercial source of silk by developing a hardy race of silk-producing insects, crossing the gypsy moth with the silkworm moth, in order to control wilt disease (or flancheria) then causing severe problems in some silkworm industries. However, during the course of his experiments, some of the eggs were lost and some of the caterpillars escaped from his home. Although this accident was made public at the time it did not receive much attention even though the gypsy moth was immediately recognized as a pest. Since its introduction into the Boston area over a century ago, the gypsy moth has greatly expanded its range and become one of North America’s most serious forest pests, defoliating large areas of canopy every year.

In spite of these earlier failures at sericulture in the United States, several more attempts at sericulture were made in California from the 1860′s through the early 1900′s. California sericulturists even advocated the commercial rearing of the native ceanothus silk moth, Hyalophara euryalus (Boisduval), as a possible source of silk until Felix Gillet in 1879 showed that the cocoons could not be reeled satisfactorily. Although some silk was produced in California during this time, most sericulture attempts failed and sericulture never became permanently established in the state.

Silk production today is a blend of ancient techniques and modern innovations. The first stage of silk production is hatching the silkworm eggs, which have been previously examined and shown to be free from disease. Larvae are then fed cut-up mulberry leaves and after the fourth molt climb a twig placed near them and spin their silken cocoons. The silk is a continuous-filament fiber consisting of fibroin protein secreted from two salivary glands in the head of each larvae, and a gum called sericin, which cements the two filaments together. Pupae within cocoons are killed by steam or fumigation to prevent adult emergence, which would cut and tangle the silk filaments. Cocoons are latter softened in hot water to remove the sericin, thus freeing silk filaments for reeling. Single filaments are drawn from cocoons in water bowls and combined to form yarn. This yarn is drawn under tension through several guides and eventually wound onto reels. The yarn is dried, packed according to quality, and is now raw silk ready for marketing.

World silk production has approximately doubled during the last 30 years in spite of man-made fibers replacing silk for some uses. China and Japan during this period have been the two main producers, together manufacturing more than 50% of the world production each year. China during the late 1970′s drastically increased its silk production and became the world’s leading producer of silk. The 1970′s were a period of tumultuous political and social upheaval in China, resulting in various economic reforms. Undoubtedly, these reforms are partially responsible for China’s increased silk production. Thus the country that first developed sericulture approximately 4,700 years ago has again become the world’s main producer of silk.
 

MAIMAW LA

  Sericulture hi Leilung hne eizawnna  (Agro base Industry) awlsam leh daih rei si a ni a. Sericulture in a tum ber chu Silk la tharchhuah a ni a. Silk la hi kum sang tel mihringin a pangngai renga kan la hman, tun thlenga a thatna leh duhawmna la chuai lo, a lan thei tur thil dang la hmuh chhuah loh awm chhun a ni. Lal incheina ropui bik buatsaihna hmanrua a ni a, silhpuan ropui leh man to siam chhuak turin a aia tha tur reng reng a la awm lo. Mi hausa tawntaw te pawhin Silk aia ropui leh chungnung inbel tur an hre lo a ni. Kum sang tamtak  kal liam tawh atang khan Silk hian mihring nunah pawimawhna thuk tak a lo nei tawh a ni. Tun thleng hian, mihring ten silhfen a kan neihsa natural (cotton, wool, jute) leh thiamna sangzawk hmanga kan siamchawpsynthetic fibre (rayon - viscose, Synthetic - nylon, polyester, etc), te ai hian silk hi a la chungnung ber zel a. La dangte aia dehvel nawm zawk thuah te,a rawng leh a chei danglam mawi awlsamnate leh a tlona hrim hrimah te hian ‘Queen of Textiles’ tih a la ni reng a ni. Chuvangin ramchhung leh pawnah a hralhna lamah harsatna a la awm ngai lo a ni. Tin, Silk kan tih hi protein chi khat fibroin leh sericin-in a siamchhuah a ni.

SERICULTURE

Sericulture chu silk la thar chhuak tura Maimaw pangang khawia Cocoon (silk la) siamtir hi a ni a. India hi ram vannei, khawvela Maimaw pangang chi nga awmte khawi vek theihna ram a ni. Chung pangang chi ngate chu: Thingtheihmu pangang, Mutih pangang, Bul/Nauthak pangang, Tropical Tasar pangang leh Temperate Tasar (Oak Tasar) pangangte hi a ni. Mizoram-ah hian Mulberry silk pangang hi khawi tam ber a ni a. Mutih pangang te, Bul/Nauthak pangang te, Oak Tasar pangangte pawh a khawi theih bawk.

Thingtheihmu pangang (Bombyx mori) hi Theihmu hnah (Morus sps.) hmanga chawm, in chhunga khawi a ni a. A keu atanga ni 23-30 velah a lo puitling a buhchiumah a lo chang thin. Buhchium a nih chhunga a invenhimna atan bawm (cocoon) a siam thin a. Cocoon a siamna lazai chu silk la hlu tak mai chu a ni a. Chu lazai chu pangang kan khawi chhan ber chu a ni. Silk pangang chi dangte pawh hi chutiang vek chuan duat taka khawia Cocoon siamtir theih vek an ni.

India-a silk la siam chhuak thei rannungte:

SERICULTURE HNATE

THEIHMU CHIN (MORICULTURE)

  Theihmu chin hi Moriculture an ti. Mizoramah chuan khawi laiah pawh theihmu hi hlawhtling taka chin theih a ni. Theihmu hi a chi atanga chin pun theih ni mahse, a tang phuna chin a ni ber. May leh June thlaah theihmu tang, kum khat vela upa chu inches 8 vela seia tan chhuma phun tur a ni. A kum leh atangin maimaw pangang khawi nan a hman theih nghal a ni.

SILK PANGANG TUI SIAMNA 

Silk pangang tui siam hi grainages an ti. Silk pangang tui (pangang chi tih a ni bawk) Disease Free Laying (DFL) an tih chu Grainage Centre-ah an siam chhuak a. Theihmu huan siamtute hnenah khawi turin an pe chhuak thin.

SILK PANGANG KHAWI

Maimaw Pangang khawi hi leilung behchhan eizawnna, industry tenau anga ngaih a ni a. Theihmu hnah hmanga maimaw pangang khawi a ni a. Maimaw pangang chuan Silk puan (maimaw puan) tah chhuak tura kan mamawh Cocoon (raw material) a siam chhuak a ni. Cocoon thar chhuaha hralh hi, kut hna thawktutute tan sum lakluhna tha tak a ni. Zokhaw lam kut hnathawktute tan a remchang lehzual a ni. Silk pangang chi hrang hrangte zingah, Theihmu pangang leh Mutih pangangte hi in chhunga khawi a ni a. Muga pangang leh Tasar pangangte hi pawnah thingkunga khawi a ni.

COCOON HRALHNA

Maimaw pangang khawitute chuan an Cocoon thar chhuah chu a hralhna hmun hnai ber, sorkar-in a siamsakah chuan an hralh thei. Chutah chuan cocoon-te chu a that dan azirin a man an lo bithliah ang a, maimaw la hlum chhuaktuten an lo lei dawn a ni. Cocoon hi a chhunga buhchium nun lai ngeiin hralh hman tur a ni.

SILK LA HLUM

Pangang in bawm a siam ‘Cocoon’ chu silk lazai sin tak muk taka inhlum a ni a. Chu chu silk la hlum thiamten uluk takin an hlum chhuak leh thin a ni. Silka la hlumna khawl hi chi thum a awm ber a. Chungte chu: Charka, Cottage basins leh Multi-end basins te a ni. Cocoon tha lo hote chu charka hmanga hlum a ni a. Tlema tha deuhte chu Cottage basins-ah an hlum chhuak a, a tha zual hote chauh Multi-end Reeling Basins-ah an hlum chhuak thin. CharkaI hi khawl mawlte hmanlai atanga an lo hman thin chu a ni a, silk lazai quality tha a chhuak thei lo. Cottage basin atang a silk hlum chhuahte hi a tha thawkhat viau nain, quality tha tak chu a chhuak thei lo. Multi-end Reeling khawl atanga hlum chhuah chauh hi Silk lazai tha leh changkanga ngaih a ni.

Silk lazai tha leh changkang ber siamna khawl chu China leh Japan rama an hman thin, Automatic silk reeling machine an tih chu a ni a. India ram pawh, Hyderabad-ah bun a ni ve tawh.

Cocoon atanga lazai sin tak lo chhuak, zai 6 atanga 12 vel belhbawm chu lazai pakhat atana hman a ni ber a. Chutianga hlum chhuah chu Raw silk an ti.

RAW SILK ZAWRHNA

Cocoon atanga lazai hlum chhuah thiam ho (Reelers) ten anlazai hlum chhuah sate chu Puan tahtute hnenah an hralh leh thin. Silk lazai hralhna hmun lian tak tak, Maimaw pangang khawi nasa ho state-ah chuan a awm a ni. Bazar-a silk laduang an rawn zawhte chu a that leh that loh endik vek hnuah, an lazai that dan azir zelin a man biathliahin an lilam thin a ni. Silk la hralhna bazaar-ah chuan la hlamtuten awlsam takin pawisa dawng nghalin an silk late an hralh thin a ni.

SILK PUAN TAH

Bazar atanga silk la va leite hi puana tah nghal mai theih a la ni lova. Dandawi hmanga chhum zawi (degummed) hnuah thlur/hrual (twisted) phawt a ngai a. Chumi hnuah puan atan a ban theih chauh a ni. Silk late hi Puantahna khawl mawl te te leh khawl changkang (power loom) hmanga tah theih a ni. A tahna khawl a changkan poh leh silk puan a chhuak mawi mai a ni.