SERICULTURE Sericulture, the production of raw silk by means of raising caterpillars (larvae), particularly those of the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori). The production of silk generally involves two processes: Care of the silkworm from the egg stage through completion of the cocoon. Production of mulberry trees that provide leaves upon which the worms feed. The silkworm caterpillar builds its cocoon by producing and surrounding itself with a long, continuous fibre, or filament. Liquid secretions from two large glands within the insect emerge from the spinneret, a single exit tube in the head, hardening upon exposure to air and forming twin filaments composed of fibroin, a protein material. A second pair of glands secretes sericin, a gummy substance that cements the two filaments together. Because an emerging moth would break the cocoon filament, the larva is killed in the cocoon by steam or hot air at the chrysalis stage. Silk is a c
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