Raw Silk Research Articles

Chemofunctionalization of knitted silk to improve interface connection in a nano/micro scaffold based on polycaprolactone-chitosan-multi-walled carbon nanotube/silk

Nano/micro hybrid scaffolds in long-term healing tissue engineering can simultaneously offer both mechanical and biological properties. In this study, a hybrid scaffold was fabricated through electrospinning of polycaprolactone (PCL)-chitosan (Cs)/ multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based nanofibers onto a chemically functionalized knitted silk substrate (F-Silk) and the scaffold were evaluated with regard to morphology, chemical and crystalline structure, hydrophilicity, mechanical properties, bioactivity, biodegradability, and cellular behavior. Chemical functionalization of silk using N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) resulted in greater integrity in the formation of nanofibers onto the microfibers. The presence of MWCNTs significantly reduced the contact angle of the scaffolds from 79.72° ± 2.72 to 68.92° ± 5.63. Chemical functionalization of silk, the presence of nanofiber coating, and the presence of MWCNTs increased the ultimate tensile strength of the hybrid scaffolds by 18 %, 20 %, and 30 % compared to raw silk fabric, respectively. The presence of MWCNTs and chemical functionalization of knitted silk increased the bioactivity and reduced the degradation rate of hybrid scaffolds. The increase in the amount of carboxyl groups as a result of adding 0.5 wt% of MWCNTs significantly improved the adhesion, growth and proliferation of chondrocyte cells on the hybrid scaffolds as observed through cell morphology. According to the obtained results, hybrid scaffold based on PCL-Cs-MWCNTs/F-silk can be a suitable option for further research in cartilage tissue engineering.

Exploring the relationship between raw silk production and employment growth in the Indian sericulture Sector

Exploring the relationship between raw silk production and employment growth in the Indian sericulture Sector

Raw Silk Yield and Quality of Cocoons from Silkworms Reared Using Different Mulberry Production Practices

Raw Silk Yield and Quality of Cocoons from Silkworms Reared Using Different Mulberry Production Practices

Karnataka and India’s Silk Industry: A Comprehensive Analysis of Sericulture Dynamics

India is the second largest producer of silk with 36,453 MT (2022-23) after China and also the largest consumer of silk in the world. Asia is the main producer of silk in the world and produces over 95 per cent of the total global output. In India, mulberry silk is produced mainly in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal, while the non-mulberry silks are produced in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa and North-Eastern states. Much of silk exports earnings is from silk garments, silk carpets and silk wastes, which is about 1,773.38 crore Rs. in total in 2022–23. Mulberry is the largest contributor to the total raw silk production with the compound annual growth rate of 3.09 per cent at 1 per cent level of significance. Tasar silk production registered highest growth rate of 13.67 per cent at 1 per cent level of significance and Jharkhand is the major contributor of about 80 per cent for the total tasar silk production. Karnataka is the leading producer of mulberry silk whereas Assam is currently the largest producer of Vanya silk. Telangana registered a highest compound annual growth rate of 21.1 per cent at 1 per cent level of significance followed by Maharashtra (16.9%). Ramanagara is having highest area under mulberry (20804.56 hectares) followed by Chikkaballapura (20544.62 hectares) and Kolar (19907.79 hectares) in Karnataka.

A Review on Medicinal Value of Silkworm Product and By-Products

Sericulture is an agro based industry that includes production of raw silk by breeding, rearing of silkworm and cultivation of their host plants. The manufacture of various types of silk was the only emphasis of the traditional sericulture industry, and leftovers were typically disposed away as trash. Byproducts and products from sericulture can be used medicinally in addition to generating silk. The silkworm is a valuable tool in laboratory research and has been utilised as a model organism in life sciences, environmental monitoring, antimicrobial drug screening, and other applications. Protein extract from silkworm eggs is used to improve memory and assist control weight. The silkworm's larvae are also beneficial medicinally; they include blood glucose-lowering agents and silkworm gut fibre, among other things. Similarly, silkworm pupae, a significant by-product of the silk reeling business, have great nutritional content and potential medical applications including hepatoprotection, anticancer, and anti-aging. They can be utilised as an alternative to conventional dietary supplements. As a result, functional sericulture under a new paradigm has replaced sericulture to produce solely silk fabric, greatly increasing farmer revenue while also relieving patient suffering.

Differential expression of fibroin-related genes in middle silk glands is induced by dietary differences in a strain-dependent manner in Bombyx mori

The silkworm (Bombyx mori) is a model organism for lepidopteran insects. It is an oligophagous insect that primarily feeds on mulberry leaves and has industrial use for the production of raw silk. The development of artificial diets has provided an alternative nutrient source for silkworms; however, one significant issue is that the production of cocoons is lower in silkworms reared on artificial diets compared with those reared on mulberry leaves. The differences in the silk gland in the late-stage fifth instar silkworm larvae, when silk synthesis is most active, between those raised on artificial diets and mulberry leaves, are unknown. In this study, we identified differences in the transcriptomes of the middle and posterior silk glands of fifth instar day five silkworm larvae reared on artificial diets compared with those reared on mulberry leaves using three strains: Daizo, Nichi01, and J137 × C146. We found that the silk-related genes fibrohexamerin (fhx), fibroin-light-chain (fibL), and fibroin-heavy-chain (fibH) in the middle silk gland, and ser1 in the posterior silk gland, were differentially expressed in a strain-dependent manner. In silkworms reared on artificial diets, fhx, fibL, and fibH in the middle silk gland were upregulated in Nichi01 and downregulated in J137 × C146, whereas ser1 in the posterior silk gland was upregulated in J137 × C146 compared with silkworms reared on mulberry leaves. Our results demonstrate that the diet and strain of silkworm larvae affect the expression of genes related to silk production in their silk glands during the late fifth instar stage.

Impact of Climate Change on Sericulture

Climate change is likely to pose problems to agriculture and its related industries in the future, which could result in both global and local development. The sericulture sector is impacted by climate change in a number of ways. Rising annual mean temperature, irregular rainfall, humidity, lack of management practices, accumulation of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and lack of management practices will lead to reduced production of raw silk, mulberry leaf yield, silk content, breakage in silk thread during reeling or spinning, water stress, drought, risk of soil acidification and salinization, decomposition of organic matter, Nitrogen fixation, and mineralization of N, P, and S and unpredictable monsoon. The impact of global warming on silkworms is more concerned as they participate in several biotic interactions that are critical to the ecological functioning of our country and significantly boost its GDP.

Effects of different cocoon-stifling methods on the reeling and quality characteristics of raw silk

In this study, we evaluated the effects of five stifling methods on the reeling parameters and raw silk characteristics of double hybrid cocoons. The methods were open sun drying, sun drying under a black cloth, drying in the SKUAST-K-fabricated solar cocoon dryer, multifuel hot air drying, and hot air drying. Our findings showed that hot air drying produced the best results in terms of reeling parameters, i.e. average filament length (805.750 m), average non-breakable filament length (800.750 m), average denier (2.777), renditta (2.805), silk waste percentage (15.17), raw silk percentage (30.382), reelability percentage (80.982), and degumming loss percentage (16.285). The method also yielded superior results for raw silk characteristics, such as winding (0.000 breaks), evenness first (1.000 count), evenness second (0.000 count), neatness percentage (95.000), cleanness percentage (96.500), tenacity (4.032 g/denier), elongation percentage (23.000), and cohesion (68.250 strokes). The SKUAST-K-fabricated solar cocoon dryer produced the second-best results.

THE SILK INDUSTRY: INDIA'S ROLE IN THE GLOBAL LANDSCAPE AND FINANCIAL DECISION-MAKING DYNAMICS

Silk industry is involved with this breeding of silk worms and manufacturer of the silk. India is the second largest producer of silk contributing to about 18% to the world production. What is however more not worthy is the fact that India is requirement of raw silk is much higher than it’s current production and present. It has a strong traditional and culture bound domestic market of silk. About 60 lakh persons are engaged in various sericulture activities in the country. It is estimated that sericulture can generate employment of 11 man days per kg of raw silk production throughout the year. This paper reviews recent research on silk industries by considering various SWOT analysis. The analysis revealed the strength on this industry, Silk industry region based, the sustaining Market demand high cost of raw silk and overview of the technology innovations on- farm experimentation. KEYWORDS: Silk industry, SWOT analysis, Industry analysis, Raw silk cost

Utilization of deep eutectic solvent as a degumming protocol for raw silk: Towards performance and mechanism elucidation

Degumming is the most critical step for the silk textile industry and the process of silk-based advanced materials. However, current common degumming techniques are largely limited because of insufficient efficiency, obvious hydrolysis damage and difficulty in long-term storage. Here, deep eutectic solvent (DES) constituted of choline chloride (ChCl) and urea was explored to Bombyx mori silk fibers degumming without combining any further treatment. Compared to traditional alkali methods, DES could quickly remove about 26.5 % of sericin in just 40 min, and its degumming efficiency hardly decrease after seven cycles. Owing to the “tear off” degumming mechanism of DES molecules with "large volume", the resulted sericin has a large molecular weight of 250 kDa. In addition, because of antibacterial activity and stabilizing effect, no aggregation occurred and strong bacterial growth inhibition was triggered in the obtained sericin/DES solution. Furthermore, thanks to the good retention of crystalline region and slight swelling of amorphous area, the sericin-free fibroin showed significant increases in moisture absorption and dye uptake, while maintaining good mechanical properties. Featured with high efficiency, reduction in water pollution, easy storage of sericin as well as high quality fibers, this approach is of great potential for silk wet processing.

Sericulture in Jammu and Kashmir- A Review

Sericulture is considered as an age old occupation in Jammu and Kashmir. J&K has enormous potential for silk production empowering the farmers of J&K by increasing their income and employment (Dar et al., 2021).The raw silk produced in J&K is recognized across the globe. The size of land holding is less for sericulture activity compared to horticulture and agroforesrty. Farmers from about 20 districts of J&K take sericulture as the subsidiary occupation. Spring season crop (May-June) is the main crop in this region followed by second crop during September- October (Chouhan et al., 2016). Important mulberry varieties cultivated are Goshoerami, Ichinose, KNG, Kukusou 21, Sujanpur and Chak Majra (Shabnam et al., 2016). Silkworm races of commercial importance are DUN22, NB4D2, SK6, SKUAST-31, CSR18 and DUN6 (Buhroo et al., 2017). Sericulture is taken as a subsidiary occupation by about 33,000 rural households in J&K. Most of these families are economically backward and sericulture plays a crucial role for their livelihood. In order to empower these farm families productivity and quality of cocoons need to be improved by applying scientific package of practices. (Bhat et al., 2020). Inadequacy of mulberry leaves and lack of awareness on scientific technologies, ineffective marketing strategies are the hurdles for the progress of sericulture industry in J&K.

Silk adsorbent for green and efficient removal of methylene blue from wastewater.

Silk, a naturally occurring proteinaceous biopolymer with remarkable adsorbent properties, has been employed in wastewater remediation. The sericin coating, functioning as a protective barrier and rendering fibres impervious to external chemical attacks and preventing their involvement in chemical reactions, was removed using a greener alternative to harness silk as an effective adsorbent. Subsequently, the silk fibres underwent intermittent microwave degumming to extract sericin, and the fibres were utilized for the adsorptive exclusion of the hazardous methylene blue (MB) dye. The comparative batch adsorption studies (kinetics and isotherm) between raw silk fibres and degummed fibres were performed to comprehend the role of degumming on fibre adsorption efficacy by varying operating conditions, including pH, time of contact, initial adsorbate and dosage of adsorbent. The paramount adsorption capacity of raw silk was observed to be 137.08mgg-1 and 179.14mgg-1 for degummed silk when adsorbate conc. was 100ppm. The kinetics of adsorption obeyed pseudo-second order suggesting that the rate controlling step is chemisorptions, and data demonstrated greatest fit to Langmuir isotherm exhibiting mono-layer adsorption. Further, biodegradability was studied by mimicking natural environmental conditions where the raw and degummed silk fibres demonstrated 51% and 53% degradation, respectively, after 180days. Overall, based on obtained results, this study highlights the suitability of silk as an effective as well as sustainable adsorbent for the exclusion of toxic methylene blue dye from wastewater.

Sorting of Mountage Cocoons Based on MobileSAM and Target Detection

The classification of silkworm cocoons is essential prior to silk reeling and serves as a key step in improving the quality of raw silk. At present, cocoon classification mainly relies on manual sorting, which is labor-intensive and inefficient. In this paper, a cocoon detection algorithm S-YOLOv8_c based on the cooperation of MobileSAM and YOLOv8 for the mountage cocoons was proposed. The MobileSAM with a designed area thresholding algorithm was used for the semantic segmentation of mountage cocoon images, which could mitigate the effect of complex backgrounds and maximize the discriminability of cocoon features. Subsequently, the BiFPN was added to the neck of YOLOv8 to improve the multiscale feature fusion capability. The loss function was replaced with the WIoU, and a dynamic non-monotonic focusing mechanism was introduced to improve the generalization ability. In addition, the GAM was incorporated into the head to focus on detailed cocoon information. Finally, the S-YOLOv8_c achieved a good detection accuracy on the test set, with a mAP of 95.8%. Furthermore, to experimentally validate the sorting ability, we deployed the proposed model onto the self-developed Cartesian coordinate automatic cocoon harvester, which indicated that it would effectively meet the requirements of accurate and efficient cocoon sorting.

Commercial Culture of Cordyceps militaris from Waste Products of Sericulture in India

Cordyceps militaris, an entomopathogenic fungi belonging to Ascomycota group are currently in the limelight for its synthesis of Cordycepin, – an anti-cancer component. The host range of Cordyceps is extremely broad, with predominance on the orders Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera. Although this fungus is extremely rare in nature, its artificial culture is becoming more and more popular on the global market. However, the commercial culture of this fungus has been hampered by the difficulty in getting seeding material and the complex developmental technique. For ages, the silkworm (Order: Lepidoptera) has played a significant economic role in the food and silk industries of Asian nations. The waste product of the silkworm rearing process is the dead silkworm pupae, which are generated in large quantities after stifling of the cocoons for the purpose of producing raw silk. Waste from Sericulture in India has the potential to be used as a promising culture media for the growth of the Cordyceps-related sector, helping the silk farmers in their quest for future financial gain and the social advancement of the tribal society.

Layer-by-layer self-assembly method improves the performance and cytocompatibility of 3D printing ODMA-GelMA hydrogel

The GelMA hydrogels are biomaterials with excellent biocompatibility and cellular activity. However, their application is limited due to their poor mechanical properties. To enhance the mechanical properties of GelMA, we incorporated ODMA into GelMA for the sequential assembly of RSF (raw silk fiber protein) and CHI (chitosan) through electrostatic interactions, constructing a multi-layer composite membrane on the hydrogel surface. We conducted microscopic morphology analysis, evaluated mechanical properties, assessed cytocompatibility, and performed short-term and long-term material toxicity testing. Our results showed that mechanical properties were significantly enhanced when the 10-layer (RSF/CHI) composite film was assembled on the surface of ODMA-GelMA hydrogel. And they also exhibited excellent cytocompatibility. The improved GelMA hydrogel has the potential for biomedical applications in 3D printing as a substitute for artificial organs.

Field evaluation of multi-viral diseases tolerant bivoltine silkworm hybrid of Bombyx mori l. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae)

Bombyx mori Densonucleosis virus (BmDV), Bombyx mori Infectious flacherie virus (BmIFV) and Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) infection to silkworms causes major sericulture crop loss. The multi-viral diseases tolerant bivoltine silkworm double hybrid, RDIN1, developed through marker-assisted selection was field evaluated by rearing 20,000 dfls at different location and season. RDIN1, had better pupation (94.8%) compared to control, FC1 X FC2 (91.5%) at farmers’ level with 4 % significant improvement. Average Cocoon yield of RDIN1 (71.2%) was better compared to FC1 X FC2 (69.3%) in unfavourable conditions. Other parameters such as cocoon weight, shell weight, shell percentage, reelability, filament length, raw silk, denier, neatness had also significant difference between RDIN1 and FC1 x FC2. The RDIN1 is expected to reduce cocoon crop losses invariably due to viral infection and fetch more profit to sericulture farmers.

Taxonomy and feeding of Forcipomyia (Microhelea) fuliginosa Meigen and Forcipomyia (Microhelea) esakiana Tokunaga (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) on Antheraea mylitta Drury (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae).

Taxonomic equivocality and complexity exist in the two species of Ceratopogonids, Forcipomyia (Microhelea) fuliginosa Meigen and Forcipomyia (Microhelea) esakiana Tokunaga. Incongruencies and inaccuracies in species identification restrict further biological and ecological studies on the host-ectoparasite association. Preferential landing and hemolymphophagy of F. fuliginosa and F. esakiana on Antheraea mylitta Drury larva were studied under field conditions. The silkworm A. mylitta is reared in the tasar sericulture industry, contributing 1466 metric tons (202122) of indigenous raw silk in India. Ectoparasitic behavior of the biting midges, F. fuliginosa, and F. esakiana is an increasing threat to the silkworm, necessitating proper identification. Intra and inter-variations of these two closely related species have been stated. Morphological-based identification of these species has been substantiated with COX1 molecular data. A Bayesian-modeled approach to reconstruct the dendrogram of the two species based on the COX1 sequences generated has been presented along with the referred sequences of F. fuliginosa from Genebank. The species F. esakiana is being reported for the first time from India, along with its ectoparasitic hemolymphophagous nature. The role of these insectivorous species in transmitting pathogens to the larvae of tasar silk needs further investigation.

Optimization process of filling the cocoons with process water in a universal vacuum-steaming device

This article presents the results of a study carried out to optimize the process of filling the inner surface of cocoons with process water in a domestically produced universal vacuum-steaming device. Optimization was carried out according to the definition of a second-order polynomial Regression Multifactor Model (RMM) based on the results of the Rotatable Central Composition Experiment (RCCE). For this purpose, experiments were carried out in several versions on a universal vacuum-steaming device at different water temperatures and steaming durations. Keywords. Cocoons, vacuum, universal, optimal, parameter, raw silk, steaming, experiment, factor, temperature, duration, preparation, unwinding, sericin.

Efficient defective cocoon recognition based on vision data for intelligent picking

<abstract> <p>Cocoons have a direct impact on the quality of raw silk. Mulberry cocoons must be screened before silk reeling can begin in order to improve the quality of raw silk. For the silk product sector, the cocoons' level of categorization and sorting is crucial. Nonetheless, the majority of mulberry cocoon production facilities in use today choose the cocoons by hand. The accuracy and efficiency of mulberry cocoon plucking can be significantly improved by automatic methods. To increase efficiency, mulberry cocoons must be sorted automatically and intelligently using machine vision. We proposed an effective detection technique based on vision and terahertz spectrum characteristics data for distinguishing defective cocoons, including common and thin shelled defective cocoons. Each mulberry cocoon with a defect had its spatial coordinate and deflection angle computed so that grippers could grasp it. With 3762 photos in our dataset, our approach could detect mAP values up to 99.25% of the time. Furthermore, the GFLOPS of our suggested model was only 8.9 G, and its Parameters were only 5.3 M, making it appropriate for use in real-world application scenarios.</p> </abstract>

Biotic and Abiotic Stress Management under Climate Change in Sericulture

Climate change threatens sustainable agriculture with its rapid and unpredictable consequences, making it more challenging for agricultural researchers and farmers to adjust to biotic and abiotic stress challenges. The combined impacts of climate, including temperature, precipitation, humidity, and other factors including soil moisture, atmospheric CO2, and tropospheric ozone (O3), will determine the potential influence of global climate change on plant-pest populations. Variations in sericulture productivity can be caused by either direct consequences of these factors at the plant level or repercussions at the system level, such as variations in insect pest prevalence. In addition to the physiological response of the impacted mulberry plant, silkworm rearing, and post-cocoon technology, as well as variations in the frequency of droughts or floods, all these factors determine how vulnerable raw silk production is to climate change. A number of researchers in the field of sericulture predicted that climate change would have a major impact on the productivity of silk, which has a direct impact on the Indian economy, was predicted by a number of researchers in the field of sericulture. The development of genotypes suited for various agro-climatic situations is essential for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the sericulture sector amid global climatic change and the impending scarcity of land and water. Transgenic revolution, tissue culture, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics in mulberry will generate advanced biotechnological cultivation technologies that will improve sericulture industry’s economy and the quality of life of those engaged in sericulture practices.