CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Introduction to Silkworm Farming

Introduction to Sericulture

Sericulture is an important skill created by the ancient Han working people. It is said that the method of planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms originated from Leizu, the wife of Huangdi. The ancestor of the domestic silkworm is believed to be the wild silkworm (B. mandarina), which is almost the same as the domestic silkworm in appearance, and can naturally hybridize with the domestic silkworm after growing up to produce offspring. There is a silkworm variety called "Qingbai", which is said to be a hybrid of wild silkworm and domestic silkworm. Many other characteristics of the domestic silkworm are obviously passed on from the wild silkworm. The number of chromosomes in the wild silkworm is n=27, and the number of chromosomes in the domestic silkworm is n=28. It is believed that the domestic silkworm is produced by the chromosome of the wild silkworm being cut into two during the evolution process.

How long does it take for a silkworm to grow?

The growth of silkworms generally consists of an incubation period of 8-9 days, a larval period of about 25 days, a pupal period of 14 to 18 days, and a moth period of 3 to 5 days.

The growth process of silkworms:

1. Hatching of silkworm eggs: After an 8-9 day accelerator period, the silkworms hatch from the eggs. They are small and black when they first come out, and are commonly known as ant silkworms.

2. First instar: The color of first instar silkworms changes from black to dark brown. They feed on mulberry leaves for 3 to 4 days and do not eat much. They will shed their skin for the first time after entering the dormant period, which lasts for 8 to 12 hours.

3. Second instar: The silkworm grows noticeably bigger and becomes lighter in color. It feeds on mulberry leaves for about 3 days and sleeps for 8 to 12 hours.

4. Third instar: The color of the silkworm body changes to light brown, the appetite begins to increase, and it enters the dormant stage after about 4 days. Silkworms from 1 to 3 instars are generally called young silkworms, and enter the adult stage after 10 to 14 hours.

5. Fourth instar: The silkworms entering the adult silkworm stage develop very quickly and their food intake increases significantly. The fourth instar usually lasts for 5 days, with a long dormancy period, generally called the long dormancy period, which can last up to 30 to 40 hours.

6. Fifth instar: The silkworms eat the most leaves during the first 7 days, accounting for more than 75% of the total leaf intake. After the 7th day, the silkworms begin to shorten and become brighter, and are called mature silkworms. They stop eating and begin to spin silk and make cocoons.

Additional information:

Things to note when raising silkworms:

1. Clean and disinfect the room before raising silkworms. Clean and plug holes. When raising young silkworms, pay more attention to thorough disinfection and disease prevention. Wash your hands before picking and feeding leaves. Strictly control the standard temperature, humidity, mulberry leaf standards and feeding time.

2. The professional term for silkworm egg hatching is "inducing green", which refers to the technical process of protecting silkworm eggs under suitable temperature and humidity conditions to allow silkworm embryos to develop and hatch into young silkworms. The specific method is: in a disinfected silkworm room, spread the silkworm eggs flat on the silkworm plaque with the egg side facing up. The room temperature for the first 1-4 days is required to be 24 degrees, with a dry-wet difference of 2-2.5 degrees; the room temperature for the fifth 10 days is required to be 27 degrees, with a dry-wet difference of 1.5-2 degrees.

When the silkworm embryos develop to the later stage, a few silkworm eggs are found to have blue dots. Immediately cover the silkworm eggs with black cloth. After about 40 hours, that is, 4-5 o'clock before dawn on the third day, remove the black cloth, wrap the silkworm eggs with white paper, with the egg side facing up, turn on the light, and let the ants bite through the egg shells to hatch. The baby silkworms can be fed about 30-40 minutes after hatching.

3. Collecting ants The professional term "collecting ants" means collecting the hatched ants and moving them to the silkworm bed paper for feeding. In general, in urban families, silkworms can still spin silk and make cocoons without this step.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Sericulture

The life of a silkworm goes through the stages of egg, larva, mature silkworm, cocoon and moth, a total of more than forty days.

The specific process is as follows:

1. Silkworms reproduce by eggs, which look very much like fine sesame seeds, about 1 mm wide and 0.5 mm thick. When the temperature rises, the eggs begin to develop. After 7-15 days, when the eggs become transparent and the outline inside can be seen, it means the silkworms are about to come out!

2. The silkworms that have just hatched from the eggs are black and look like ants. We call them "ant silkworms". They are covered with fine hairs, which will not be obvious after a few days. The silkworms will have an appetite about 40 minutes after they hatch, and the feeding process should begin at this time.

3. Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. After eating mulberry leaves continuously, their bodies turn white. After a period of time, they begin to shed their skin. Silkworms do not eat or move when they sleep. On the surface, they are sleeping, but in fact, they are shedding their old skin and replacing it with a new one to continue growing. Silkworms shed their skin 4 times during the entire breeding process. Each time they shed their skin, they do not eat or move. Try not to disturb them at this time, and do not throw them away thinking they are sick. Each silkworm hibernation period lasts about one day.

4. After molting once, it becomes a second-instar larva. Each time it molts, it gets one year older. It has to molt four times in total and become a fifth-instar larva before it starts to spin silk and make cocoons.

5. Generally, the silkworms start to spin cocoons around 25 days old. When the silkworms' backs are shiny, yellow and transparent, it means that they are about to spin silk and spin cocoons. At this time, a cross space should be provided for the silkworms to spin cocoons. It takes two days to spin a complete cocoon, and the silkworms complete the last molting in the cocoon and become pupae.

6. After about ten days, the female moth emerges from its cocoon and becomes a silkworm moth. After emerging from the cocoon, the female moth emits a scent from its tail to attract the male to mate. After mating, the male dies. The female moth can lay about 500 eggs in one night and then slowly dies.

Additional information:

Living habits

Silkworms are oligophagous insects. In addition to mulberry leaves, they can also eat mulberry leaves, elm leaves, grape leaves, scorch, dandelions and

Lettuce leaves, etc., but eating these will increase the mortality rate. The nutrients necessary for silkworms include protein, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, inorganic salts and water. Mulberry leaves are the most suitable natural food for silkworms.

After silkworms eat mulberry leaves, their larvae grow rapidly. Under suitable temperature conditions, a silkworm molts every 6-9 days from hatching to spinning cocoons, a total of about 24-32 days. It eats about 20-30g (5-6.2g in dry matter) of mulberry leaves and usually undergoes four hibernations and moltings. By the time it reaches its peak growth, its weight increases by about 10,000 times.

Spinning silk and making cocoons is an instinct of silkworms to adapt to the environment and survive. Silkworm cocoons can be used to reel silk, which is a precious textile raw material and is also widely used in military industry, electrical industry, etc. Silkworm pupae, moths and silkworm feces can also be used comprehensively as raw materials for various chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and can also be used as nutrients for plants.

Silkworms are holometabolous insects, and in one generation, they go through four developmental stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The number of generations that occur naturally in a year is called metamorphosis, with one generation in a year being called monomorphosis, two generations being called dimorphosis, and three or more generations being called polymorphosis.

There are also polymorphic species in tropical areas that do not diapause all year round. The temperature range for development varies with the development period, generally between 7 and 40 degrees Celsius, and the temperature range for normal development is 20 to 30 degrees Celsius.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Silkworm

The life of a silkworm goes through the stages of egg, larva, mature silkworm, cocoon and moth, a total of more than forty days.

The silkworm babies that have just hatched from the eggs are black like ants. We call them "ant silkworms". Their bodies are covered with fine hairs, which will no longer be noticeable after about two days. The silkworms will have an appetite about 40 minutes after hatching, and the feeding process should begin at this time.

Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. After continuously eating mulberry leaves, their bodies slowly turn white. After a period of time, they begin to shed their skins. They shed their skins for about a day, and do not eat or move, just like sleeping. This is called "hibernation." After molting once, they become second-instar larvae. Each time they shed their skin, they grow one year older. They have to molt five times in total, and become sixth-instar larvae before they start spinning silk and making cocoons.

It takes a six-year-old larva two days and two nights to form a cocoon, and the silk used to make the cocoon can be as long as 1.5 kilometers! The silkworm sheds its skin for the last time in the cocoon and becomes a pupa. About ten days later, it emerges as a silk moth and breaks out of the cocoon. After emerging from the cocoon, the female moth emits a smell from its tail to lure the male moth to mate. After mating, the male moth dies. The female moth can lay about 500 eggs in one night and then slowly dies.

focus on

The growth of silkworms generally consists of an incubation period of 8-9 days, a larval period of about 25 days, a pupal period of 14 to 18 days, and a moth period of 3 to 5 days.

The growth process of silkworms:

1. Hatching of silkworm eggs: After an 8-9 day accelerator period, the silkworms hatch from the eggs. They are small and black when they first come out, and are commonly known as ant silkworms.

2. First instar: The color of first instar silkworms changes from black to dark brown. They feed on mulberry leaves for 3 to 4 days and do not eat much. They will shed their skin for the first time after entering the dormant period, which lasts for 8 to 12 hours.

3. Second instar: The silkworm grows noticeably bigger and becomes lighter in color. It feeds on mulberry leaves for about 3 days and sleeps for 8 to 12 hours.

4. Third instar: The color of the silkworm body changes to light brown, the appetite begins to increase, and it enters the dormant stage after about 4 days. Silkworms from 1 to 3 instars are generally called young silkworms, and enter the adult stage after 10 to 14 hours.

5. Fourth instar: The silkworms entering the adult silkworm stage develop very quickly and their food intake increases significantly. The fourth instar usually lasts for 5 days, with a long dormancy period, generally called the long dormancy period, which can last up to 30 to 40 hours.

6. Fifth instar: The silkworms eat the most leaves during the first 7 days, accounting for more than 75% of the total leaf intake. After the 7th day, the silkworms begin to shorten and become brighter, and are called mature silkworms. They stop eating and begin to spin silk and make cocoons.

Additional information:

Things to note when raising silkworms:

1. Clean and disinfect the room before raising silkworms. Clean and plug holes. When raising young silkworms, pay more attention to thorough disinfection and disease prevention. Wash your hands before picking and feeding leaves. Strictly control the standard temperature, humidity, mulberry leaf standards and feeding time.

2. The professional term for silkworm egg hatching is "inducing green", which refers to the technical process of protecting silkworm eggs under suitable temperature and humidity conditions to allow silkworm embryos to develop and hatch into young silkworms. The specific method is: in a disinfected silkworm room, spread the silkworm eggs flat on the silkworm plaque with the egg side facing up. The room temperature for the first 1-4 days is required to be 24 degrees, with a dry-wet difference of 2-2.5 degrees; the room temperature for the fifth 10 days is required to be 27 degrees, with a dry-wet difference of 1.5-2 degrees.

When the silkworm embryos develop to the later stage, a few silkworm eggs are found to have blue dots. Immediately cover the silkworm eggs with black cloth. After about 40 hours, that is, 4-5 o'clock before dawn on the third day, remove the black cloth, wrap the silkworm eggs with white paper, with the egg side facing up, turn on the light, and let the ants bite through the egg shells to hatch. The baby silkworms can be fed about 30-40 minutes after hatching.

3. Collecting ants The professional term "collecting ants" means collecting the hatched ants and moving them to the silkworm bed paper for feeding. In general, in urban families, silkworms can still spin silk and make cocoons without this step.

The life of a silkworm goes through the stages of egg, larva, mature silkworm, cocoon and moth, a total of more than forty days.

The silkworm babies that have just hatched from the eggs are black like ants. We call them "ant silkworms". Their bodies are covered with fine hairs, which will no longer be noticeable after about two days. The silkworms will have an appetite about 40 minutes after hatching, and the feeding process should begin at this time.

Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. After continuously eating mulberry leaves, their bodies slowly turn white. After a period of time, they begin to shed their skins. They shed their skins for about a day, and do not eat or move, just like sleeping. This is called "hibernation." After molting once, they become second-instar larvae. Each time they shed their skin, they grow one year older. They have to molt five times in total, and become sixth-instar larvae before they start spinning silk and making cocoons.

It takes a six-year-old larva two days and two nights to form a cocoon, and the silk used to make the cocoon can be as long as 1.5 kilometers! The silkworm sheds its skin for the last time in the cocoon and becomes a pupa. About ten days later, it emerges as a silk moth and breaks out of the cocoon. After emerging from the cocoon, the female moth emits a smell from its tail to lure the male moth to mate. After mating, the male moth dies. The female moth can lay about 500 eggs in one night and then slowly dies.