SILK STORY - SERICULTURE

Documentary Film Series on Sericulture

A general background of tropical region particularly with reference to topography, climate and major crops like paddy, sugarcane, horticultural crop like grapes vegetables, oil seeds (sun flower - ground nut) cotton in PLAINS and coffee, tea, spices (Pepper-Cardamom). Emphasis on mulberry sericulture as a cash crop in the plains. Extension of sericulture to Malnad region. The economics and scope in short. Different components of Sericulture-quick frames showing operational wise scenes.

Mulberry plot, Leaf harvest, Silkwork rearing, Spinning, Cocoon, harvest, Marketing, Silk reeling, Silk twisting and Weaving, allied activities like, making rearing equipments, cattle rearing with left over leaf, litter use in biogas, oil extraction from pupa and pupa waste as poultry feed, etc.. Employment and income generation in general could be emphasized in the commentary and charts.

Mulberry cultivation: In plains, mulberry garden in different types of soils, existing cultural practices in the mulberry garden like :

1. Lead harvest by bottom Prunning / individual leaf harvest/organic manure application
2. Digging and weeding/ploughing it pit system
3. Irrigation : Channel irrigation and flood irrigation
4. Sprouting : Two weeks old
5. Application of fertiliser : Inorganic manure followed by one more irrigation
6. Stage wise growth of mulberry plants 15 days-one month-45 days in row system. Stage wise growth in pit system 15 days-one month-45 days
7. A good looking mulberry plantation.

Mulberry cultivation in hilly areas : Undulation of Malnad lands with few locations where mulberry gardens are established (including Coonoor type)
How different, the mulberry cultivation in Malnad region from that or plants needs to be highlighted. Spacing with a pruned garden / when it is fully grown. lrrigation - mostly sprinkler type. Crop Duration-four crops in a year. Monoculture of mulberry. Inter-cultivation in Coffee and Tea plantations as a shade tree. Mulberry growth as tree on bunds and roadsides. Shoot system of leaf harvest. Operational cycle from pruning to next prunning is desirable. Plant protection-spraying fungicide.

A link scene of fully grown mulberry and the rearing : A farmer inspecting fully grown mulberry garden. His preparation. for procurement of silkworm seed. Disinfection and arrangement for chawki rearing Disinfection steps in detail right from purchasing the formal into complete disinfection and closing of the rearing house. Farmer procuring seed and necessary items like parafin paper etc., and the shot should cover general items required for rearing like sponge pad, formalin, chemicals, Resharnkeet oushad, uzicide etc.,

Incubation of silkworm seed : Heating of the rearing room through a heater by indicating the actual reading of the thermometer. Show the way the farmer has brought the layings (egg carrying box with the wet foam pad etc., or a simple cotton bag with wet blotting paper). Farmer washing his hand opening the egg box and taking the eggs and spreading the eggs on the tray for incubation. Close-up view of head pigmentation stage of eggs. Black boxing of eggs., exposure to light and hatching, close up view of one laying hatching and hatched worm from a single egg.

Brushing of silkworms : General view of garden, single plant. Selection of chawki leaf. Collection, leaf basket. Transportation and preservation (We should show only the farmers methods). Leaf chopping. Collection in a basin. Distribution or laying to brushing tray. Brushing process.

Details of young age rearing : Increase in bed size. Bed opening and drying. Feeding methods shoot cutting / leaf cutting and size. Preparation for moulting. Lime application. Completion of moult. Resharnkeet oushad application. Net application for cleaning and hand cleaning.

Marking on calendar by farmer to indicate the time from brushing. Worms out of second moult. Removal of base paraffin paper. Use of round trays. Young age rearing in Malnad area highlighting the differences like 3 (three) feed system, leaf picking upto second age, lime application etc., and any other practices in consultation with farmers of Malnad region.

Concept of Community chawki rearing centres : Show few buildings -boards and one or two inside shots of a large scale brushing. Distribution of silkworm larvae to farmers-farmers carrying the trays on their heads.

Late age silkworm rearing : The farmers harvesting leaves. Transportation by cyde / cart / head-load. Leaf preservation extending number of trays to give spacing the silkworms, dusting of Reskarnkeet oushad and Uzicide to avoid diseases / uzifly pest. Feeding with good quality leaves. Collection of spinning silkworms. Giving good ventilation for final age silkworm rearing / airiation to spinning worms.

Harvesting of cocoons from mountaoe and cleaning the cocoons / sorting : Taking the cocoons to cocoon market. Cocoon market and transaction of cocoons in the cocoon market. Open bidding system to help the farmer to get the correct price. Payment being made by the reeler to government and government in-turn paying it to the farmers enabling the avoidance of the middleman.

Transfer of income from richer sections to the poorer sections of the society. Highly rural intensive nature of sericulture industry in tropical parts of our country. How the farmer gets quick returns and the short qestation period of the sericulture avocation. Foreign exchange earnings-export / Flight. Utilisation of by-products as fuel, a happy farmer with his family.

Cocoon Market : All the Silkworm rearers bring the cocoons reared by them and sell to the reelers in the open market by auction.

Mulberry Cocoons : There are three types of mulberry cocoons : 1) Univoltine 2) Bivoltine and 3) Multi-voltine-mulberry cocoons are mostly reared in South India, Jammu and Kashmir.

Stifling : To kill the pupae inside the cocoon without damaging the shell and to remove moisture for better storage. There are different methods of stifling :

Sun Drying : This process consists in killing and drying the pupae by prolonged exposure of freshly harvested cocoons to scorching hot sun.

Steam Stifling : In this process, the pupae is killed by exposing the fresh cocoons to the direct action of wet steam for the required period. There are different types of steam stifling.

Basket steaming : Small quantities of fresh cocoons are steam stifled in a basket woven of bamboo with a thick wet cloth tightly stretched over the top y the basket and tied at the sides.

Chamber type steam stifling : This process make use of specially designed with conveniently large sized chambers. These chambers are provided with trays where fresh cocoons are placed. There after closing the chamber door, the steam under pressure is let into chamber for about 10-15 minutes. The steam supply is shut off and the chamber door is opened, then the cocoon trays are removed for airing.

Hot air drying : There are two types of hot air stifling :

1. Batch type
2. Conveyor type
From this method, complete driage of cocoons is possible enabling to store the cocoons for long time.

Storage of Cocoons : The stifled cocoons are usually preserved in wooden or iron racks o protect the cocoons from pests and rodents.

Sorting of Cocoons : Sorting of cocoons is done by hand for size variation, defective cocoons, colour variation etc.,

Cocoon Cooking / Boiling : This is to soften the sericin so as to unwind the filament smoothly. Cooking can be done in three methods.

Open Pan Cooking : Cocoons are subjected to instantaneous: boiling in single pan.

Three pan system : Cocoons are subjected to lower-higher and lower temperature in three pans.

Pressurised cooking : Cocoons are subjected to soaking steaming-boiling-soaking at low temperature. Pressurized cooking can be done in two ways.

1. Cylindrical Pressurized cooking
2. Conveyor pressurized cooking.

Brushing : Brushing can be carried out in two methods

1. Hand brushing.
2 Mechanical Brushing
.

Reeling : Reeling is to unwind the filament from cooked cocoons collectively and to reel on to a convenient device for matching commercial silk thread .

1. Country Charka / CSTRI Improved Charkha.
2. Cottage Basin.
3. Multi end reeling machine.
4. Automatic reeling machine.
Re-Reeling : For making standard sized hanks.

Skenning : This is to twist the hanks by skenning machine and tube.

Book Making and Baling : Twisted skeins are packed into a bundle of 2 Kgs. which is called as book. One bale consists of 10 books i.e. 20 Kgs. of raw silk.

These are the wild variety cocoons. Tasar cocoons are available in Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. Muga cocoons are available only in Assam in the world.

Tassar Cocoon Cooking : Tasar cocoon cooking is carried out in a solution containing I g/l soap and lg/l soda ash at boil for 30 minutes. Then the cocoons are subjected to steaming for I hour under pressure of 15 lgs/sq. inch followed by soaking in a solution of 0.5 g/l biopril-50 (Proteolytic enzyme) for overnight at 45-50C.

Tassar Cocoon Reeling : The cocoons after cooking are semidried on an ash bed. Then the cocoons are delossed for end finding and then fed tq reeling machine for reeling. Pedal Tassar reeling machine can be used for reeling of Tassar Cocoons

Muga Cocoon Cooking : The muga cocoons are subjected to boiling in a solution containing I g/l soda ash for 15 minutes.

Muga Cocoon Reeling : The cocoons after cooking are deflossed for and finding and subjected to reeling in Bhir-machine or cottage basin.

Eri Cocoons Spurning : Eri cocoons are another type of non-mulberry cocoons meant for spinning only. Prior to spinning the cocoons are treated with 3 gpl soap and I gpl soda ash at boil for one hour. This is then dried and used for spinning using CSTRI Hand Spinning Wheel. Mulberry and non-mulberry pierced cocoons are also treated with the above recipe for spinning (Hand spinning)

Spun Silk Mills :
1. Degumming vats for degumming the silk waste.
2. Dryers for drying the degumming material.
3. Openers for opening the fibres.
4. Fillers for opening and cleaning the material.
5. Dressing machine is used for combing the materials neps and remove the foreign materials, neps and short fibre and make a lap with average steple length.
6. Spreader : To further paralise the fibre. Set frames for obtaining silver.
7. Draw frame is used for making the Silver with fibres more perfectly paralised, blending also can be done by this machine.

8. Roving machine for making roving (standard of thread with little twist from silver).
9. Ring frame is used for making the spun yarn from roving and insert sufficient twist for strength and wind in a bobbin.
10. Winding & doubling machine are used for two or three fold commercial yarn.
11. Gassing is done for removing the protruding fibres by passing the yarn through the flame at a speed 500-600 mts/min.
12. Reeling to make standard sized hank.
13. Bundling & Balling : First make a bundle and bale for disposal of the material.

Noil : Yam is produced from the waste obtained during production of spun silk.

Winding : To transfer the raw silk from skein on to a double flanged bobbins for further usafe in weaving.

Doubling : To prepare ply yarns.

Twisting : To insert twist in the thread (raw silk) for more strength also to prepare various types of yams such as crepe, organzine, georgette etc.,

Warping : To prepare a warping beam so that all the warp thread (sections) are transferred on the a weaving beam.

Prin Winding : To prepare prins for inserting weft during weaving.

Silk Weaving : Silk weaving is carried out on handloom, pit loom, frame loom, and power loom (plain & Jacquard).

Wet Processing :
1. Dequmming : The process is generally carried out using required quantity of soap and soda ash at boil for I hour to remove the sericin.

2. Bleaching : Bleaching is carried out using required quantity of oxidising agents like hydrogen peroxide to remove the yellow pigment in the silk.

3. Dyeing : This process is to colour the silk material using different classes of dyes like acid dyes, metal-complex dyes etc., Dyeing can be carried out in Winch of Jigger machine.

4. Printing : This process helps in getting designs on the silk fabric using different classes of dyes.

5. Finishing : Finishing process gives better feel and improves the quality of silk fabric is subjected to chemical finish and mechanical finish. The chemical finish is carried out by padding silk fabric in a chemical solution through padding mangle.

The mechanical finish is obtained by passing the silk fabric through strengthening , calendaring machine etc.

In addition to Video format, transparencies and colour photographs are available.