Cutting leaves to feed silkworms has its finer points; seeking advantages and avoiding harm is key

The young silkworm stage (instars 1-3) is a critical period in @#@250@#@ production. Only careful feeding and scientific management can lay a good foundation for disease-free, high-yield production in the later stages. In rural silkworm rearing, some silkworm farmers, fearing trouble and wanting to save effort, still mostly use whole leaves to feed silkworms during the young silkworm stage, resulting in uneven development of the young silkworms and serious waste of mulberry leaves.

(1) Avoiding loss of silkworms: During the young silkworm stage, especially for 1st-instar silkworms, when whole leaves are used, the leftover mulberry leaves that the silkworms have not finished eating often shrivel and curl into tube shapes, wrapping some silkworms inside them. Since young silkworms have a small range of movement, they find it hard to crawl out. In the end, these silkworms either starve to death inside or are thrown out together with the leftover leaves during cleaning, causing the loss of many silkworms without notice. If cut leaves are fed instead (the size of cut leaves is best about 1.5-2 times the body length of the silkworm in square shape), the cut mulberry leaves will not curl into tubes, and the silkworms can crawl around freely to seek food, avoiding the above losses.

(2) Evening out leaf quality for uniform development: On the same mulberry tree, there are never two completely identical mulberry leaves; there are always differences in tenderness, thickness, softness and nutrient content. Young silkworms eat little, and a few silkworms cannot finish 1 whole leaf at one time. If whole leaves are fed, some silkworms will be picky eaters for a long time; some will develop faster and some slower, resulting in uneven sizes. After mulberry leaves are cut fine, shaken loose and mixed evenly, each silkworm can eat several leaf pieces of different textures at each feeding, so they will not develop unevenly due to picky eating.

(3) Reducing silkworms that burrow into the litter: Because whole leaves are heavier and wider, young silkworms find it very difficult to crawl from the lower layer to the upper layer to feed. After a long time, many silkworms that burrow into the litter will appear. These silkworms eat insufficient mulberry leaves and have weak constitutions, making them susceptible to pathogens and thus causing silkworm diseases. With cut leaves, because the pieces are small, light and loose with many gaps, silkworms can easily crawl upward, and almost no silkworms that burrow into the litter appear.

(4) Silkworm bed hygiene, seeking advantages and avoiding harm: Cut leaves are small and light, forming a loose, porous layer of leftover leaves and feeding layer on the silkworm bed. Water vapor and harmful gases in the silkworm bed are easy to release, keeping the silkworm bed clean and dry. Unlike whole leaves, which, when piled up even slightly more, cause cold dampness or fermentation and spoilage, breeding bacteria and harming the silkworms.

In addition, using cut leaves also has advantages such as convenient feeding, even spreading, easy feeding by the silkworms and easy expansion of the bed.