BIVOLTINE RACE AND

4.1. Hygiienic conditions
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Change the foot wear at the time of entering into the rearing room.
Wash hands a.rd legs thoroughly before entering into the rearing house each time.
Provide separate dress for workers at their work place.
Do not ailow outsiders into the rearing house.
Keep the rearing house and its surroundings clean and tidy throughout.
- Disinfect the feet by stepiring on to the foot mat contairung l0% bleaching powder'in
slaked lime.
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Rear silkworrns on a sheet paper in rearing tray.
Collect silkworm bed refuse into litter basket/vinyl sheet meant for the-purpose.
Dump the siikworm bed refuse in litter pit far from rearing house and mulberry gartlen
and put bleaching powder around the pit.
Use disinfected bed cleaning nets.
Sprinkle a mixture of bleaching and slaked lime powder solution (1:9) in the surroundings
of the rearing house periodically to prevent possible contamination.
4.2. Chawki garden
Young age silkworms require nutritious and succulent leaves. The rnoisture content of the
leaves must be 78 - 80%. Hence, more attention should be given for increased nutrition (sugar
and protein) and water content by altering the recommended dose of NPK through increasing F
and K and also by adding more organic matter to the soil. Organic naatter may be in the form of
FYM, compost or green manure which irnproves the water retention capacity of the soil.
To exploit _,oung age rearing as a comrnercial venture, maintain an exclusive chawki
garden and follow specific pruning and harvest methods to produce maximum good quality leaves
for chawki rearing alone. The irnportant methods are:
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Prepare land in flat areas with porous fertile soil" Select sandy loam soil.
Select 536 variety for the new garden. However, existing K2 gardenwith 60cm x 60cm
spacing can be converted as chawki plot.
If there is no separate chawki plot,l/ethof the garden canbe specified as chawki garden
where irrigation should be repeated every 4th-5th day or sprinklers may be used every
day for keeping the soil moisture status near field capacity. The mulberry earmarked
for chawki should be pruned around 5 days later ttan- the h-Otmal scheclule.
4.3. Schedule of operation
After the establishment period of one year, the plants should be pruned at crown height
of 20 cm above the ground level with the onset of monsoon. After 35 days of pruning, harvesting
of leaves can be commenced for next 1.0 days (upto 2nd moult). At the end of rearing, the top
terminal bud is to be clipped. After 25 days of top clipping the second leaf harvesting as shootlets
(secondary shootlets) is to be done for rearing of worms upto second moult. There after, plants
are again pruned at crown (SOth day after first pruning).:fhis cycle has to be repeated 4 times
to get eight crops in a year (Fig. 5).