Silkworm Feed Processing Technology: A Detailed Explanation of Special Feed Production Methods

Wuxi Scientific Research and Design Institute of the Ministry of Internal Trade (Wuxi, Jiangsu 214035) The special feed processing technology comprises three parts: industrial-scale processing of artificial feed for the silkworm, nutritional formulation, and rearing. In processing, a new technique of dry-heat kill-green (de-enzyming) and drying of fresh mulberry leaves was pioneered, and technologies such as micro-grinding, mechatronic integration, addition of feed active substances, anti-corrosion sterilization, and shaping and packaging were adopted, solving technical difficulties of artificial silkworm feed such as fresh-keeping and drying of raw materials, grinding, wet-body mixing, and long-term preservation, producing a new artificial silkworm feed product on a large scale, and developing China's first complete set of technology for an artificial silkworm feed production line with an annual output of 1000 t. In formulation research, new methods such as replacing mulberry with grass, changing the components of the shaping agent, and combined screening of preservatives were adopted, and a low-cost, practical artificial feed formulation was designed. In rearing research, through key technical studies on feeding methods for each instar, treatment of molting and arousal, protection of the silkworm bed, and disinfection and disease prevention, technical standards for artificial-feed rearing were formulated.

This project has high technical content, filled a domestic gap, and its results reached the international advanced level. In 1996 it won the second prize for scientific and technological progress from the Ministry of Internal Trade; in 1997 it won the third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. This project changed the traditional situation of relying solely on mulberry leaves @#@250@#@, very effectively reduced the impact of natural disasters and pesticide pollution on silkworm cocoon production, largely alleviated the contradiction between land used for mulberry cultivation and land contested by grain and vegetables, made mulberry planting and silkworm rearing possible in different places and at different times, freed them from the restrictions of season and region, and thus enabled factory-style, year-round silkworm rearing, greatly increased silkworm cocoon output, and significantly raised the labor efficiency of sericulture production; it is a major technological innovation in the sericulture industry. At present, these results have been promoted and applied in rural areas such as Jiangsu and are very well received.