Iran plants over 2m mulberry cuttings to increase raw silk
cocoon output

Over 2.3 million mulberry cuttings have been planted across
the country to cultivate silkworm and increase the output of raw silk cocoons,
according to the head of Iran Sericulture Expansion Center affiliated with the
Agriculture Ministry.

“This year, nearly 2.3 million
mulberry cuttings have been planted to produce modified mulberry that provide
leaves upon which the worms feed and produce silkworm eggs,” Adel Sarvi Zargar
said.

He added that over 1.8 million cuttings were given to
officials in the northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Razavi
Khorasan and Northern Khorasan to renovate old mulberry plantations.

The mulberry tree is the only food source for the silkworm,
and this worm is only able to produce cocoons by consuming the leaves of this
tree. Silk threads are produced from the cocoon and the resulting fabric has
many benefits because of its softness and delicacy. This makes the cultivation
of mulberry trees essential to sericulture.

In addition to leaves, the mulberry tree has fruits that
contain sugar. These fruits are served both dry and fresh. It is worth
mentioning that the cultivation of this tree through the germination of its
seeds is not ideal and usually the seedling does not possess the
characteristics of the original plant. Unfortunately, most of the mulberry
trees in Iran are cultivated through seed germination.

In general, there are two types of mulberries, white and
black. Black mulberry trees are not suitable for raising silkworms, but their
seeds are used to graft seedlings of modified species. As a result of this
process, modified trees are cultivated that can grow leaves several times a
year for sericulture.