A Detailed Explanation of the New Mulberry-Biogas-Mulberry Circular Silkworm Rearing Model

 In recent years, with the continuous development of the sericulture industry, the disposal of silkworm droppings has become a thorny problem for rural silkworm rearing households. Building a separate silkworm dropping treatment room adds expense and takes up land; discarding it carelessly causes environmental pollution. Making full use of the biogas digesters renovated under rural energy programs, with a little screening, and putting the silkworm droppings into the digester can not only reduce the production waste generated by rural silkworm rearing, but also increase energy and fertilizer sources.

The New Silkworm Rearing Model: Mulberry—Biogas—MulberrySilkworm droppings should be piled and composted for 15 days before being put into the digester. According to various experiments, 250 kg (30~40 kg of silkworm cocoons) of fresh silkworm droppings can produce 4 to 5 cubic meters of biogas, and gas production is rapid; when material is loaded on the first day, the peak gas production period is reached on the third day. If there is too much silkworm dropping, it can first be sun-dried and kept for later use. Before loading, a sieve can be used to screen out lime and impurities unsuitable for loading. Fermentation of silkworm droppings as raw material to produce biogas, maintenance and management: open the lid once a year to clean out the floating droppings. The method for cleaning out the floating droppings is to carry out silkworm dropping cleanup every year after silkworm rearing is finished and the biogas has been used up and before silkworm rearing the following year, applying it as fertilizer to the mulberry trees, forming a good ecological cycle of mulberry—biogas—mulberry.

Preparatory Work Before Silkworm Rearing  

1. Planting mulberry: The domestic silkworm uses mulberry leaves as its food, so before rearing silkworms, mulberry trees must be planted well. For the planting techniques of mulberry trees, please read the article "Video on Mulberry Tree Planting Techniques"; here the editor will not repeat them.  

2. Silkworm room: Rearing one batch of silkworms requires 20 square meters of large silkworm room, 10 square meters of small silkworm room, and a dedicated leaf storage room, etc., to help prevent disease.  

3. Silkworm tools: including thermometers, silkworm trays, plastic film, silkworm nets, square cocooning frames, silkworm chopsticks, goose feathers, mulberry cutting knives, cutting boards, mulberry shears, black cloth, etc. Rearing one batch of silkworms requires 16~20 silkworm trays, 160~200 square cocooning frames, and 14 small silkworm nets.  

4. Disinfection of silkworm rooms and silkworm tools: 7 days before silkworm rearing, after cleaning the silkworm room and silkworm tools thoroughly, spray and disinfect with disinfectant essence or 1% bleaching powder or strong chlorine essence liquid, using half a jin of medicinal liquid per square meter. After spraying, close doors and windows and seal for more than 24 hours; at the same time, the surrounding environment of the silkworm room should also be sprayed and disinfected.

What Little Tricks Are There for Silkworm Rearing  

I. Silkworm eggs  

1. Make a comfortable “home”: prepare a lidded box, poke small holes in it, spread a layer of clean white paper inside the box, and place the silkworm eggs in the paper box. If the climate is relatively dry, spray a small amount of water every day. As the weather gradually warms, the newly hatched silkworms will come out on their own.  

2. During this period, check every day whether there are newly hatched young silkworms; generally the most hatch in the morning. As soon as the young silkworms emerge from the eggshells they need to eat, so quickly use a writing brush or feather to gently brush them onto the mulberry leaves.  

II. Rearing during the larval stage  

1. Prepare food: mulberry leaves. Before feeding, be sure to wash them clean with clear water and dry them; do not feed the silkworms leaves that have turned yellow or spoiled, otherwise the silkworms will be poisoned or get diarrhea. To keep surplus leaves from wilting too quickly, put them in a plastic bag, tie the bag opening tightly, and place it in a cool place.  

2. Feed the silkworms leaves 4 times a day: early morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. Each amount should be appropriate to avoid waste. In the evening, more leaves can be put in, because the silkworms eat mulberry leaves all night long. Newly hatched silkworms should be fed tender leaves, and the leaves are best cut into fragments or strips.  

3. Frequently clean out excrement and leftover leaves: when changing leaves for young silkworms, you can directly cover the old leaves with new leaves, and once the young silkworms have all climbed onto the new leaves, take the old leaves away. This can reduce silkworm casualties and makes it easier to remove leftover leaves and silkworm droppings.

The Latest High-Efficiency New Techniques for Mulberry Planting and Silkworm Rearing  

I. Establish and improve the management system  

Sericulture is a production activity with a high technical content. For example, in the fine breeding of silkworm eggs, through unified breeding, unified management, unified inspection and quarantine, mid-term management of sericulture, later-stage harvest, and entry into the market, a complete management system is needed to better improve production efficiency and competitiveness.  

II. Scientific and standardized management  

The development of sericulture cannot be separated from scientific management and technology. On the one hand, the selection and cultivation of mulberry seedlings and the management of mulberry fields must be carried out strictly according to standards; on the other hand, strict management and the application of science and technology are also required in the rearing process.  

1. Carefully select seedlings. The quality of mulberry leaves is the first guarantee for rearing silkworms well. Centering on quality, highlighting the characteristics of high yield, high quality, and high resistance of seedlings, and using thick leaf flesh, abundant nutrients, high yield, and good quality as trait indicators, new variety selection and breeding research and development work is carried out. At present, the main recommended excellent mulberry varieties in our region include Guisang You 12, Guisang You 62, Teyou No. 2, Nongsang 12, etc.  

2. Mulberry field management: do a good job in mulberry field planning; the planting time, specifications, and methods of mulberry seedlings; fertilizer and water management of mulberry fields; mulberry branch pruning; clearing and disinfection of the field; intertillage and weeding; pest and disease control; and harvesting of mulberry leaves must all be carried out strictly according to requirements.

Silkworm rearing has several hundred or even several thousand years of culture and history in our country, so our country can be said to be a country with rich experience in silkworm rearing. However, in the process of silkworm rearing, it is still necessary to constantly innovate new breeding techniques and methods so as to keep pace with the times.