Mechanization in sericulture can help reduce labor costs, which account for 65-70% of cocoon production costs in India. Various mechanized tools have been developed for mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing operations. For mulberry cultivation, tractors and power tillers can be used for land preparation and intercultural operations, reducing costs by 30-50% compared to manual labor. For silkworm rearing, machines have been created for leaf chopping, silkworm separation, deflossing cocoons, tray washing, and pressing mountages, improving efficiency and reducing labor needs. Overall, mechanization can significantly reduce labor dependency and costs in the sericulture industry in India.

1. Mechanisation in
sericulture
By
A.Suresh.

2. Why mechanisation?
The sericulture industry in india is
highly labour intensive. In india
over 65-70 % cost of cocoon
production accounts for labour
wages for different activities.
Hence ,we should reduce labour
dependency to reduce cost of
cocoon.

3. MECHANISATION IN
MULBERRY
CULTIVATION

4. Land preparation:
Tractor operated
Mouldboard
Disk plough
Cultivators
Harrows
Prepared the land fast
and less cast.

5. Mulberry cutting:
Worker -1500-2000 cuttings/day.
Machine-1400-1500 cuttings/hour.
Developed by CSRTI,Mysore.

6. Intercultural operations:
Power tiller
Power weeder
Tractor operated cultivators

7. Cost of intercultural operations in mulberry gardens
Method of
Operation
Time/ Manpower
Required
Operation Cost
(Rs./ha)
Cost Reduction (%)
Manual weeding 42-mandays 3,360.00 --
Bullock ploughing 80 h/ha bullock
ploughing + 8 man-
days/ha
2,560.00 30
Power tiller
operated weeder in
Paired row
plantation
21 h/ha tiller
ploughing + 40 h/ha
Bullock ploughing
2,680.00 25
Tractor ploughing in
Paired row
plantation
5 h/ha tractor+ 40
h/ha Bullock
ploughing
2,250.00 50
Tractor ploughing in
3M plantation
6.6 h/ha tractor 1,650.00 100

8. Spraying:
Self propelled CSRTI sprayer
TNAU power tiller mounted sprayer
ASPEE tractor mounted sprayer
Less time and uniform spray.

9. Cost of chemical application in mulberry gardens
Type of
Sprayer
Time required
/ hectare
Spraying COST
(RS./HA)
COST
REDUCTION
thru
Mechanization
1. Knapsack –
Hand operated
12.5 Hrs 600.00 --
2. Knapsack –
Power
operated
4.0 Hrs 175.00 250
3. TNAU power
tiller sprayer
2.0 Hrs 300.00 100
4. CSRTI – self
propelled
sprayer
2.2 Hrs 150.00 300
5. ASPEE tractor
mounted
sprayer
0.6 Hrs 170.00 250

10. Shoot Harvesting:
 Knapsack type bush cutters for mulberry
shoot harvesting.
 It works well in paired row plantation and
can harvest 1,000-1,200 kg shoots per hour.
 Mostly used in medium and large farms.

11. MECHANISATION
IN
SILKWORM REARING

12. Rearing house disinfection:
 Electricity and engine operated sprayer.
 Flame gun developed by CSRTI,Mysore.
 Highly cost and time effective tool

13. Leaf chopping:
 CSRTI leaf chopper-225-250 kg leaves/hour
 Different sizes for different age silkworms.
 Most useful for Chawki rearing centres-large
scale young age rearing.

14. Silkworm separator:
Separate 100
dfls(40,000-45,000
silkworms)/hour
Avoid spinning of
cocoons in bed
Reduce the cost of
manual picking

15. Deflossing of the cocoon:
 The outer layer of unreelable silk
floss removed before reeling.
 Deflossing the cocoons at very fast
rate &save labour charges.
 Marketing price will increase.
 Deflossers, CSRTI,Mysore.
Hand operated deflossers-small
rearer
Motorised deflossers-medium
&large rearer

16. Tray washing machine:
Large no of plastic
trays are to be
washed in a
Chawki Rearing
Centre.
Capasity-60-70
trays/hr.

17. Collapsible mountage pressing tool:
 Quick & proper
folding & pressing
of the plastic
collapsible
mountages.
 Developed by
CSRTI,Mysore.
 Fast bundling of the
plastic moundages.

18. THANK YOU