Development of Automatic Rearing System of Silkworm

Decrease in the cocoon production of Japan is drastic because of low price of cocoon, scarcity of successors and so on. To tide over the difficulty, the automation system in the sericulture was discussed and some trials have been conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The attempts are based on a low cost artificial diet which does not rely on mulberry leaves. Automatic machines developed until now are a rearing machine constituted with repeated belt conveyor, an reformation type of former rearing machine "Bombyx" and a mounting machine. Running parallel with them, utilization of 20-hydroxyecdysone extracted from a plant to the mounting was also studied to use their machines efficiently in the fields. In conclusion, 10 tons of law cocoon will come to be produced by two persons labor. At present, an automatic rearing system on low cost artificial diet has been developing for the future sericulture.