IMPACT OF SUBTROPICAL ENVIRONMENT ON SILKWORM SURVIVAL IN KANDIBELT OF JAMMU PROVINCE.

R.K.PANDEY, Regional Sericultural Research Station, Miransahib, Jammu 181101*Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute, Pampore,

Srinagar, Kashmiremail: pandeyjammu@gmail.com

Short running title: Sericulture in sub tropical kandi belt ofJammu

Key words: Silkworm hybrids, Disinfection, Rearing, Cocoons,

AbstractIn tropical south India, silkworm rearing is practiced throughoutthe year and upto six crops are harvested annually. But in sub-

tropical climate of north India, only one crop of silkwormcocoons is harvested mainly in spring season. The kandi belt of

Jammu province experiencessub tropical climate. Summers being very hot with drought likesituation, make sericulture uneconomical. An effort was made totake up second rearing during the month of September in autumn

season, by adopting a package of improved bivoltine cocoonproduction technology

developed by the Institute over the years. Among the latesttechnologies introduced in the Kandi belt through Research

Extension Centre, Barnoti, disinfection and chawki rearing werefound to be most important for success of a second crop in autumn

season.

INTRODUCTION

Sericulture is an eco-friendly agro-based labour intensive ruralcottage industry providing subsidiary employment and supplementing theincome of rural farmers especially the economically weaker section of

the society (Qadri et.al.2010). The industrial production of raw silkand fabric employs a large number of semi literate and semi skilledpoor workers throughout the year. Thus, a large portion of the costincurred in the conversion of soil to silk reaches poor workersinvolved in the value addition at each stage like cocoon production,silk reeling, fabric production, dying and printing. Sericultureindustry is therefore, discretely helping in building an egalitariansociety in highly populous countries like India and China. Sericultureplays an important role in transformation of rural economy as itassures regular employment and periodic returns round the year(Lakshmannan et al. (1998). Sericulture has also an important placein the economy of Jammu & Kashmir as more than 25,500 families aregenerating their employment through this vocation (Ganie et.al..2012).Jammu and Kashmir state is basically an agrarian economy. Agricultureoccupies predominant position in terms of dependence for livelihoodand employment. Though, we have a salubrious climate,a predominatelyagriculture economy, a dense population giving us ample man-powerwhich are willing and able to work it economically, socio religioustraditions favouring the use of silk fabrics and a growing domesticand export market, but like other cottage industries sericulture toohas been languishing. With large number of our village populationderiving the greater part of their income from sericulture in hillyand far flung areas and not having other identified areas likehorticulture sector to absorb and employ huge chunk of population inthe state, faster growth in sericulture is necessary to provide boostto their incomes. Rising income in sericulture will help redress therural-urban imbalance. Therefore, a new approach in sericulture isnecessary in view of the fact that as an important activity allied toagriculture, it can strengthen the productivity based on agricultureeconomy in such areas where other activities to provide livelihood areminimal. Sustenance of any technology depends on the knowledge andadoption level of the technology by the farmers which is influenced bymany factors. Though the Government agencies organize many extensionprogrammes and training courses, involvement of the farmers is thebasic criteria for popularizing any technology. In spite ofavailability of many improved techniques in host plant management andas well as silkworm rearing, majority of the silkworm rearers of Jammuand Kashmir are still inclined to follow their traditional practices. In sub tropical north India, silkworm rearing is traditionallypracticed by the farmers in Kandi belt in spring season between Marchand April during the gestation period before the harvest of Raviseason Wheat crop ( Pandey et.al.2010). Subsequent rearings usuallyfail due to adverse climatic conditions. In the present work, efforts

were made to take up an additional cocoon crop in the month ofSeptember, by the introduction of improved mulberry varieties, newsilkworm hybrids, chawki rearing under controlled environmentalconditions and by the use of disinfectants.

MATERIAL & METHODSThe locationThe unirrigated zone lying in the submontane tract of JammuShivaliks at altitude between 300m to 1000m, covering thedistricts of Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi, Rajouri andPoonch, is known as Kandi belt (Arora, 2006). In the Jammuregion, this belt stretches between longitude of 74o21' Eastto 75o45' E and latitude of 32o22’N to 32o55' N, except inthe western portion where it lies between the latitude of32o50' N. to 33o North. Its southern boundary is JammuPathankot National Highway, Ranbir canal and then along thePartap canal to the line of actual control on the MunawarTawi. The area is surrounded by River Ravi in the East andMunawar Tawi on the West. It cuts across the districts ofJammu, Kathua and Udhampur. The total area of the Kandi belthas been estimated to be 4, 89,266 hectares, out of whichonly 1, 16,046 hectares (23.72%) is cultivated. InGovernment records, the Kandi belt of Jammu comes underbackward areas category. The Kandi belt experiences sub-tropical climate, summers being very hot and winters coldand dry. The soils are coarse textured, mostly loamy sand tosandy loam, frequently covered by small to large boulders.The water holding capacity of the soil is very low andrainfall uncertain and poorly distributed, being usuallyless than 100 cm annually. Topographically, the Kandi area is rugged and broken,intersected by a large number of dry rivulets. Agricultureis the main occupation of the people living in the Kandibelt. 70 percent of its population is dependent on land forits living. Majority of the farmers have small and marginalholdings. The main crops grown in the belt are bajra, jowar,maize, wheat and barley. Agriculture is uneconomical becauseof poor soils and low moisture content (Gupta et al.2010).Mulberry varietiesAn early sprouting mulberry (Morus alba) variety, S 146 wasintroduced in the area between 2001 and 2008 along with a

triploid variety TR10 (Pandey et al.2010). Theircharacteristic features are presented in Table II. Saplingsof these varieties were regularly supplied to the farmersfor raising plantation around their dwellings. The rearerswere motivated to prune their mulberry 45 days before theonset of rearing so the silkworms were not fed on overmature leaves. The quality of foliage was ensured by feedingthe silkworms on young flush of leaves.

Chawki garden An exclusive bush type chawki garden of early sproutingMorus alba variety S146 was established in two acres ofkandi land, with assured irrigation. One year old saplingsof S146 variety were planted by digging pits of 45 cubiccentimeters each. In the planting medium per pit, 2 kgorganic manure (vermicompost), and 5gm Lindane (anti termitepesticide) was mixed with soil. The plantation was carriedduring winter rains in December 2003 within two days ofuprooting of one year old saplings from nursery. Bottompruning during last week of July (35 to 40 days before thedate of brushing for autumn crop in September) and middlepruning during middle of December was practiced (75 daysbefore the date of brushing for spring crop). Afterestablishment of chawki garden, organic manure vermicompost@ 10 MT/ha/year and inorganic fertilisers in the form of NPKwere applied @200:150:150 kg/ha/year in two equal splitdoses (in February and August) annually 30 days before theonset of rearing.(Pandey et al.2008)New Silkworm hybridsSix new bivoltine silkworm hybrids along with conventionalSH6xNB4D2 were distributed among the farmers after chawkirearing. The incubation and chawki (the first two instar)rearing were conducted scientifically (Singh et al., 2010),with utmost care at the Research Extension Centre, Barnoti.An experimental trial was also carried, where cocoon yieldfrom worms supplied after brushing, after first moult andafter second moult was compared. In subsequent years, onthe basis of the results of that trial, silkworms were given

to the rearers in the third in star for feeding adult agesin their dwelling houses ( Pandey et al.2010),Control of grasserie disease In order to control the most prevalent silkworm disease,grasserie, efforts were made to control by disinfection.During pre-rearing preparations, disinfection of rearinghouses and rearing trays was facilitated with 2% formalinesolution at rearers level as well as at Chawki RearingCentre. The disinfectant required for disinfection ofrearing house was 2lt/sq.m floor area. To estimate thequantity of disinfectant solution required, the floor areain square meter was multiplied by 2.0 which gave the actualdisinfectant required in litres for disinfection of insideof the rearing house. Using powerful jet sprayer, therequired quantity of disinfectant (@2.0 lt/sq.m floor areaof rearing house +25 % of disinfectant solution forappliances + 10 % for outside of rearing house), was sprayeduniformly to drench all parts of rearing house insideappliances and outside. The rearing house was closed for aminimum period of 6 to 10 hours.  After minimum period of18-24 hours, the rearing appliances (trays) were shifted outof rearing house and sun dried for 10 – 12 hours (Dandin,2003).

Bed disinfectantsPara formaldehyde and benzoic acid compounds are knownto contain anti-microbial properties and variousformulations involving these chemicals have beenprepared like, Vijetha (Datta et al., 1998). These weredusted on the silkworms with the help of a thin cloth atthe rate of 4 g/0.1 sq.m. area. The dusting was donepreferably once after each moult, half an hour beforeresumption of feed. An additional dusting was given onthe fourth day of fifth instar after bed cleaning. Thedusting was not done when larvae were at moult orpreparing for moult. The total quantity of beddisinfectant used was 3.80 kg per 40,000 larvae as , 600gm after 3rd moult, 1200 gm after 4rth moult and 2000 gmduring fifth instar in two spells. Slaked lime was alsoemployed during the course of moulting to reducerelative humidity. The farmers were advised to keepproper spacing, and feed appropriate quality andquantity of leaf during each instar.Supply of plastic mountagesDuring the process of cocooning adequate care was taken toensure proper ventilation, temperature and spacing. Plasticmountages (Datta et al.,2008) were given to the rearers toreduce the defective cocoon percentage. In absence ofplastic mountages, the farmers were demonstrated to make useof the readily available Eucalyptus leaves for cocooningpurpose( Figure 1). The harvesting of cocoons was done on fifth dayafter mounting and green cocoons marketing was organised atThe Research Extension Centre, Barnoti to ensure immediatereturn to the farmers. Reelability testing Dry cocoon samples were tested by Textile testinglaboratory, Jammu for reelability parameters.

Results Temperature and Relative Humidity

While the average indoor rearing room temperature remained24±1 degree Celsius during spring crop( March ), it wasfound to be 5 degree more during second crop periodof September ( 29 ±1° C).Similarly, the indoor relativehumidity of rearing room was also recorded to be highbetween 85 and 92 % during September which was between 80and 84 % during March (spring season). Thus, relativelyhigh temperature and high ambient relative humiditypersisted during the month of September. Effect of chawki GardenThe foliar buds of improved mulberry variety S146 sprouted30 days after winter pruning, whereas Tr-10 variety budssprouted 38 days after winter pruning. Due to earlysprouting of S146, more chawki leaves were available at thetime of chawki rearing in spring season, even when there wasno sprouting in the old mulberry trees available in thefield. (Table I). Therefore, chawki garden of earlysprouting mulberry variety was useful.Effect of Chawki rearingIt can be seen from Table II that the worms given aftersecond moult in third instar yielded 44.6 kg of cocoons per100dfls, whereas cocoon yield declined upto 36.4, when wormswere supplied to the rearers after first moult. The cocoonyield further declined upto 26 kg, when worms weredistributed just after brushing. On the basis of theseresults, in subsequent years, worms were supplied to therearers after second moult in third instar only to increasetheir income. It is obvious that establishing a chawkigarden and chawki rearing Centre was profitable for theKandi rearers.Use of bed disinfectantsIn Kandi belt, Silkworm suffers mainly from Grasserie disease. Thefarmers were advised to keep proper spacing, and feed appropriate quality and quantityof leaf during each in star. By the use of bed disinfectants, cocoon yield could be improvedbetween 5 to 10 percent. The economic gain over control was more with Vijetha in comparisonwith Resham Keet

Oushadh (Pandey et.al. 2010). The disinfection before the onset ofrearing also played a vital role in improving the productivity, because due to povertyand water scarcity, unhygienic conditions prevail in Kandi. New silkworm hybrids By and large, SH6xNB4D2 was mainly employed, chawki rearedand supplied among the women rearers. However, smallquantities of other new Hybrids were also tested in thefield area of Kandi. The results of field rearing ofdifferent hybrids are presented in Table III. It can be seenthat there is not much difference in the yields of differenthybrids employed in the field. The yield gap also persistedbecause of the difficult situation of Kandi area. However,the average cocoon yield per 100 dfls could be increasedfrom the bench mark of 26 kg/100dfls in the year 2003 to47.8 kg in spring 2008.

Autumn specific silkworm hybridIn the present work, some rearers were motivated to take upsecond rearing during the month of September. By adopting apackage of improved production technology, on an averagebetween 2004 and 2007 up to 30 kg cocoons per 100dfls wereharvested .Autumn specific RSJ 3 X RSJ 1 developed byRegional Seri cultural Research Station, Miransahib wasemployed along with conventional hybrid SH6 X NB4D2. Thecumulative yield of autumn rearing conducted between 2004and 2008 revealed an average yield of 33 kg/oz from RSJ3 XRSJ 1 and 27 kg/oz from SH 6 X NB4D2 during the month ofSeptember. Reelability parametersAverage shell ratio (%) recorded was 18.85 in RSJ3 X RSJ 1and 17.7 % in SH 6 X NB4D2 cocoons. The reelabilityresults of the bivoltine hybrids reared during autumn arepresented in Table IV. It was observed that RSJ 3 X RSJ 1showed average filament length of 924 meters against 832meters of SH 6 X NB4D2. The denier of RSJ 3 X RSJ 1 was 2.5finer than SH 6 X NB 4 D 2, which showed 2.87. The RSJ 3 XRSJ 1 showed renditta 4.03 kg against 4.13 of SH 6 X NB4D2.

These results show that RSJ 3 X RSJ 1 performed well alongwith SH6 X NB4D2 in autumn season in sub tropical region ofJammu and Kashmir.

Discussion

In order to make the second crop of sericulture successfulin kandi belt, adoption of recommended sericulturalpractices is essential. Qadri et.al.(2010) observed that thepractices like method of leaf harvesting were 100% adoptedby all the sample farmers. The practices of time ofharvesting of leaf was adopted by (77.7%) followed by plantto plant spacing (38.8%), planting of recommended mulberryvarieties (22.2%) transport of leaf (16.6%) and method ofapplication of fertilizers (13.33%).The majority of thefarmers did not adopt the practices like recommended plantprotection measures (96.6%), fertilizer quantity (95.5%),manure (88.8%), method of application of fertilizers(86.6%), method of leaf transportation (88.3%), andrecommended varieties(77.7%). The level of adoption ofplant protection measures were very less, even though numberof plants in their vicinity were found to be affected bydiseases.

The successes of cocoon production not only depend onfeeding of nutrient mulberry leaves to silkworm but also onthe adoption of recommended silkworm rearing practices.Qadri et al.,(2010) revealed the level of adoption ofdifferent technological innovations in silkworm rearing. Itcould be observed that (83.3%) of sample farmers weremaintaining the temperature and relative humidity properly.Next, to this the rearing practices adopted at higher ratewere the disinfectant of rearing house/ rooms (72.2%), useof bed disinfectants (66.6%) and leaf chopping method(50.0%). Bed cleaning (27.77%), mounting of ripen worms(4.44%) and separate rearing house (2.22%) were at lowerrate. The reason for poor rate of adoption of time ofharvesting of leaf, method and quantity of application offertilizers, recommended variety, manure, attributed to lackof knowledge. The quantity of fertilizer application was due

to the lack of awareness and high cost. In the case of plantto plant spacing the reason attributed is lack of knowledgeand adoption of traditional practices. However, with regardto non-adoption of silkworm rearing practices, the highestpercentage of non-adoption were the method of chopping ofleaf for chawkie rearing (77.7) followed by mounting ofworms for spinning (68.8%), use of bed disinfectants(50.0%), bed cleaning (61.1%) and maintenance of temperatureand relative humidity (30.0%), respectively. Hence, in orderto increase the adoption rate , the work before theextension personnel is to identify the progressive farmersand train them in the use of new technologies, which will goin a long way to improve the adoption level of newrecommended technologies.With the increased economic needs due to changing socialstatus and unpredictable market trend of different kinds ofproduces by the farmers of the state, sericulture hasassumed special significance as an important subsidiaryoccupation which supplements the income of the farmers inaddition to their returns from the other crops. Basicfeature of this farm based economic enterprise is theinvolvement of women. However production of qualitybivoltine silk is still a challenge in Jammu and Kashmirhaving enormous potential to produce bivoltine silk ofinternational grade, can help to reduce the import ofbivoltine silk in the country.Jammu and Kashmir Government has taken number of steps(Ganie et al.,2012), to boost sericulture such as,  “HealthInsurance for women”. The scheme aims at providing insurancecover to the women engaged in silkworm rearing. It has beenintroduced in the state for the first time.5000 and 2500women rearers were brought under this scheme during 2009-10and 2010-11 respectively. “Marketing Support to CocoonGrowers”. About an amount of Rs.32.10 lakhs has been paid tococoon growers of the state as marketing support on accountof low prices fetched by them.   “ Cluster DevelopmentProgramme” 4 clusters at Tral (Rs.246.575 lakh) andBandipora (Rs.251.325 Lakh) in Kashmir Division; Nowshera(Rs.238.116 Lakh) and Tikri, Udhampur(Rs. 244.496 lakh)

in Jammu Division have been launched in the state to adoptholistic approach for development of sericulture in theseareas.  Cluster Plantation ,both Departmental as well as atFarmers level, has been introduced for the first time in thestate ,with a minimum of 100 plants to the tune of Rs. 2250/beneficiary per cluster, to augment area under mulberryplantation and during 2010-11, 11.00 lakh plants wereplanted under this scheme.   “Supply of Rearing Kit” Undercatalytic Development Programme 2000 rearers were providedrearing kits at a unit cost of 0.20 lakh and 200 rearers ata unit cost of 0.40 lakh under cluster promotion programmeduring 2010-  “Technological advancement scheme” Hot AirDryers with capacity of drying 3000Kgs of cocoons in asingle shift has been introduced in Jammu. This dryer canalso be used for drying other agricultural crops during offseason future of the modern silk industry has beenidentified to be closely linked with thestable sericulture carried on scientific lines, active andwell knit extension support, propagation of quality mulberryvarieties, awareness of the benefits of sericulture activityamong farmers, practice of conducting not less than tworearings in a year, a well organized system of productionand supply of disease free eggs, use of by-productsof sericulture activity, modernization of reeling sector,rationalization of marketing of cocoons and raw silk,building of polyhouses to facilitate the production ofgrafts and cuttings, popularization of low cost technologiesat farmers level etc. This will give an attractive image tothe silk industry in the global silk markets. Besides needbased research, keeping in view the status of the rearersand their requirement can also lead to their attractionin sericulture in a big way.

ReferencesArora, S. 2006, Preliminary assessment of soil and waterconservation status in drought prone foothill region ofnorth-west India. Journal of World Association of Soil WaterConservation , (5), 55-63.

Dandin S.B. 2003 Hand Book of Sericulture Technologies( 3rd Edition) Central Silk Board, Bangalore, India, 49-57.Datta,R.K.,M.Baig,Natarajau,M,Balavenkatasubbaiah,and T.S.Kumar,1998. Vijetha,an effective disinfectant. IndianSilk,37,12-13.Datta,B.T.,Saha A.K.,Das S.K. and Kar N.B.2008. Plasticcollapsible mountage,an alternate to bamboo spiral mountagein Eastern India. Uttar Pradesh J. Zool.28(3),319-328.Ganie,N.A.,A.S.Kamil,M.F.Baqual,R.K.Sharma,K.A.Dar andI.L.Khan, 2012 Indian Sericulture Industry with particularreference to Jammu and Kashmir. Intl. J. of Advanced Biol.Res.2(2),194-202.Gupta,R.D. Arora,S. Gupta,G.D. and Sumberia,N.M. 2010 Soilphysical variability in relation to soil erodibility underdifferent land uses in foothills of Siwaliks in N-W India.Tropical Ecology 51(2) 183-197.Lakshmanan, S., B. Mallikarjuna, R. Gannapathi Rao, H.Jayaram and R. G. Geetadavi, 1998 Studies on adoption ofsericultural innovation at farmers level in Tamil Nadu: Anempirical analysis. Indian J. Seric., 37(1), 44-47Pandey,R.K., M.A.Khan, B.B.Bindroo. Dhar and S.S.Chauhan2008 Vermicomposting of seriwaste by Eisenia foetida. IndianSilk July, 35-37Pandey,R.K. ,B.B.Bindroo, Anil Dhar and M.A.Khan 2010 KandiChetra Main Shahtoot Vraksha ropan Ke liye Tr-10 kism elbehtar Vikalp. Indian Silk 48, 10,. 39-40. Feb. 2010 Singh,G.B., K.M. Vijaya Kumari, K.S. Chandrakanth, S.M.H.Qadri, P.K. Das and C.K. Kamble 2010 Economics ofcommercial young age silkworm ( Bombyx mori L.) rearingcenter. Indian J. Agric. Res.., 44 (4) : 311 – 315Qadri,S.F.I., M.A.Malik, A.Sabhat and F.A. Malik, 2010.Adoption of improved sericultural practices bysericulturists in border area of Kashmir.Intl.J.Agricult.Stat.Sci.6 (1),197-201.

Table I

Growth behaviour of two improved mulberry varieties in Kandi

Variety S146 Tr-10 C.D.

Days to sprouting after winter clipping

30 38 2.10

Height of the plant (m)

1.98 2.30 0.26

Total shoot length (m)

12.49 10.90 3.1

No. of leaves per meter of length

19.4 19.8 0.51

Fresh weight of 100 leaves (g)

386.25 409.75 19.8

Moisture in leaves (%)

78.1 79.8 0.6

Rooting % 82.0 93.5 7.3

Table II

Effect of the age of silkworms at the time of distribution in field on cocoon yield

Particulars of wormssupplied

Mean Larval duration(days)

Average cocoon Yield(kg)/100dfls

Worms distributed after brushing

35 26.0

Worms given after 1st moult

32 36.4

Worms given after 2nd moult

30 44.6

C.D.

1.27 2.93

n=5

Table III:

Seasonal impact on Silkworm rearing of Kandi area of Jammu

Season & year Hybrid combination

Seed intake(ozs)

CocoonYield(kg)

Avg.Yield kg/100dfls

S.R.%

Spring2004 SH6xNB4D2 35 1700.8 48.59 19.0RSJ14xRSJ11 6 268.6 44.76 21.12CSR5xCSR2 5 205.0 41.0 20.46

Autumn2004 RSJ3xRSJ1 3 123.35 41.11 19.73Spring2005 SH6xNB4D2 35 1700.8 48.59 19.0

RSJ14xRSJ11 12 396.8 33.06 19.52CS6xPam101 3 139.2 46.4 20.22CSR2xCSR4 5 239.4 47.88 19.44

Autumn2005 SH6xNB4D2 2 49.0 24.5 18.4RSJ3xRSJ1 8 216.0 27.0 18.87

Spring2006 SH6xNB4D2 40 1729.6 43.2 19.0RSJ14xRSJ11 10 505.0 50.5 19.45CSR2xCSR4 5 233.4 46.68 18.7

Autumn2006 SH6xNB4D2 2 55.8 27.9 18.65RSJ3xRSJ1 8 260.6 32.57 19.43

Spring2007 SH6xNB4D2 27 1104.5 40.9 18.8RSJ14xRSJ11 15 337.5 22.5 19.64CS6xPam101 5 204.0 40.8 19.53CSR2xCSR4 5 226.2 45.8 19.2

Dun6xDun22 5 236.0 47.2 19.2Autumn2007 SH6xNB4D2 2 57.4 28.7 19.18

RSJ3xRSJ1 10 325.8 32.5 18.95Spring2008 NB4D2xSH6 25 1104.1 44.1 18.7

RSJ14xRSJ11 25 1218.6 48.7 19.87CS6xPam101 5 267.1 53.4 19.13CSR2xCSR4 5 265.0 53.0 19.63

Oz=100 disease free layings

TABLE IV

Reelability results of the Bivoltine hybrids reared during Autumn by REC Barnoti

SILKWORM HYBRIDSH6 X NB4D2 RSJ3 X RSJ1

Filament length (m) 832 924

Non breakable filament (m)730 755

Denier 2.87 2.5

Defective cocoon % 10.33 7.95Renditta including defective cocoons

4.13 4.03

Renditta of good cocoons 3.63 3.59

Reelability % 81.7 84.0

Values are mean of 3 independent trials conducted between 2001 and 2004at Textile Testing Laboratory, Jammu

Fig.1: Mrs. Sampoorni Devi harvesting silk cocoons frommountage of Eucalyptus shoots