subject: Indian Silk Industry ‘turns over a new leaf' with novelty [print this page] With innovations fuelling every single field, the Indian Silk Industry is not left behind.
Silk industry occupies a unique position in India. The country is the second largest silk manufacturer contributing to 18% of the total raw silk production. Sericulture is an important cottage industry in India. This is a labor intensive industry operating on around 54,000 villages all over the country. An assortment of silk varieties such as Mulberry, Tasar, Eri, Muga etc are grown. The industry is generous enough providing job opportunities, and livelihood for more than 6 million people in the rural areas.
The industry has shown significant growth both domestically and internationally fuelled by new innovations in the field. The ability of the industry to grow is combined with huge innovation opportunities coupled with the skills of the craftsman.
Eco Friendly Silk:
The state of Tamil Nadu has come up with a new way of extracting silk from cocoons without killing the silk worms. These eco friendly silk saris are made using eco-friendly methods of cultivating mulberry silk from the Bombyx Mori worms. By the texture, look, and the feel it is seldom possible to differentiate between a conventional and the eco-friendly sari. These silk fabrics would cost a little more than the ones made through the conventional process due to the complex process involved in its making, but it is worth the cost. As such it is an Ahimsa Sari.
Virus Resistant Silkworms:
The Sericulture Research Institute of Andhra Pradesh has developed a virus-resistant transgenic silkworm. This silkworm would help in stabilizing silk yield levels by reducing uncertainties like viral outbreaks and this research has also helped in understanding the traits which induce silkworms to eat only mulberry leaves. These silk worms were subjected to various tests to confirm if the virus resistant trait would be transferred to the next four generations of worms. To get an in-depth idea of this, Fibre2Fashion spoke with Dr. Sharad Chandra, Director, Central Silk Board (CSB).
* Kindly elaborate us about the development of virus resistance silkworms.
There are two methods adopted for the development of virus resistance in silkworms. First method is the marker assisted breeding programme where markers identified for nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) are introgressed to desired bivoltine breed for making the susceptible silkworms breeds to NPV tolerance.
And second, transgenic silkworm developed by RNAi interference biotechnological method where virus multiplication will be suppressed in the silkworm gut & other organs. This transgenic silkworm was developed by our collaborators at CDFD, Hyderabad. At SBRL, breeding programme has been initiated where these transgenic genes are transferred to desired biovoltine breeds. Through this method susceptible silkworm can be made tolerant to viral diseases.
* How does this process favor sericulture?
The advantage of developing viral resistant silkworms is that the susceptible silkworms will become tolerant to viral diseases so that their survival rate, cocoon quantity, silk yield will increase. In turn farmer's income also will increase.
* What is your opinion regarding the outcome of this achievement?
This is one of the systematic biotechnological methods for controlling the silkworm diseases, particularly NPV over the conventional methods of disinfection. It will increase the quantity and quality of silk cocoon and silk productivity.
This queen of fabric is one of the major industries in India. The key to success lies in creating higher value products with the use of innovation. Novelty in the Indian silk sector drives its performance higher and acquires profits, and satisfaction along the chain from the suppliers to the end users.
Indian Silk Industry turns over a new leaf' with novelty
