Muga Silkworm
Muga silkworm
Muga silkworm, Antherea assama Westwood (syn. Antherea assamensis Helf., Antherea mejankori Moore) belongs to the Phylum-Arthropoda, class- Insects, order-Lepidoptera and family-Saturniidae. Family characters namely, bipectinate antennae, minute labial palpi, short maxillae, lack of frenulae are prominent in both the sexes.
Rearing of Muga silkworm
Muga silkworm rear in out door on tree. One tree can be utilized for two rearing in a year alternately during spring and autumn, thus one full grown tree can yield 1000 cocoons in a year and 5 trees are required to produce 5000 cocoons which yield one kg. of muga silk.
Muga silkworm is Semi-domesticated and multivoltine in nature having 5 to 6 generations in a year. In accordance with the Assamese calendar the different generations in a year are named as follows:
Sl
Assamese Name
Season
Month
Remarks
1
Jarua
Winter
Dec-Feb
Pre- seed crop
2
Chotua
Early spring
Mar-April
Seed crop
3
Jethua
Spring
May-June
Second commercial crop
4
Aherua
Early summer
June-July
Pre- seed crop
5
Bhodia
Late summer
Aug-Sept
Seed crop
6
Kotia
Autumn
Oct-Nov
Main commercial crop