Tropical Tasar Sericulture

Abstract

Tropical tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta Drury, is a non- mulberry silkworm used for commercial silk production in India. Antheraea mylitta is wild and polyphagous. It feeds on primary food plants, viz. Terminalia tomentosa, T. arjuna and Shorea robusta and dozens of secondary food plants. The life cycle of A. mylitta passes through four stages – egg, larva, pupa and adult. The larvae are voracious feeders while, adult are non-feeders. The weight of first to fifth instar is directly proportional to the feeding and increases from 8 mg to 25 mg. The fifth instar larva spin the cocoon and pupates inside. The cocoon of A. mylitta is tough, made up from single silk thread measuring about 1000 m. The cocoon has a large peduncle, which terminates in a ring which fits into the branch of host plant. There are 44 eco-races of A. mylitta distributed in various regions of India. The races are univoltine, bivoltine and trivoltine in nature and complete one, two and three life cycles in a year, respectively. Larvae are exposed to nature and attract various pests and predators. Infestation of pest and predator increase larval mortality resulting in loss of tasar silk production in India.