BIVOLTINE RACE AND

PREFACB
Sericulture, the aiable agro-based industry aptly matches with the
socio-economicback-drop of rural lndia. Silk, the queen of fibres is the fruitful
culmination of the cumulatiae and concerted et'forts oJ the multi-disciplinary
functionaries like cocoon producus, grainueres and reelers. Though lndia
occupies second position in the ouerall global silk production (73,418 M.tonnes
during 1993) bulk of it is from multi x bi silk" lts quality is nt the loza ebb
compnred to the existing International standards, Therefore, adoptton of
biaaltine sericulture became imperatiue and imminent considering its potentiality
eaen under Indian tropical conditions. Success nnd deaelopment of biaoltine
sericulture largely depends on practicing the specit'ied pnckages, skillt'ul
management in dit't'erent facets coupled zuith rigorous R I D suppart. Although,
considernble int'ormntion is aaailable in this direction, practical ti7:s/ guidelines
helping to achieae the desired objectiues are meagre, In line utith this, considerable
efforts sre chnnnelled in bringtng out this mqnusl proaiding releuant, precise
and updated technologies of practical utility with regard to uarious sericultural
operations for biuoltines aiz., incubation, young and late age rearing, testing of
silkworm hybrids, reeling test, egg production, hibernation schedules,
multiplication of silkworm breeds st P4lP3lPZ leaels and maintenance of
silkworm stocks.
More emphasis is giaen on breed maintennnce nnd multipliwtion systan
required for biaoltines. This book alsa seraes qs necessary tool (hand book) ta
the technical personnel in their day to day operations. This attempt is hoped to
potentiality of biuoltine sericulture under tropicai conditions
achieae the full
and in renlising the set tnrgets thus mnking a signit'icant impnct in the
international silk scenario besides improaing the scio-economic conditions of
natiae sericulturists and as a potential foreign exchange earner.
We express our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Y. Ohtsuki, fiCA kam Leader for
his guidance and suggestions, Our thanks are also due to Dr. Tanaka, Short
Term Expert (IICA) in Silkworm Breeding t'or his aaluable suggestions in
bringing out tltis manuatr. We acknowledge the assistance extended by
Mrs. Kshuma Giridhar, Assistant Director and Dr. M. Ramesh Babu, Senior
Research Assistant. We also acknowledge the help rendered at aarious stnges by
our colleagues of Silkworm Breeding l-nboratory, IICA.
R. K. Datta
H. K. Basavaraja
Yasuhisa Mano