A Review on Production Efficiency and Seasonal Disease Management in Mulberry Sericulture in Telangana, India

Abstract

Mulberry sericulture couples a perennial crop, the mulberry (Morus spp.), with a domesticated monophagous insect, the silkworm (Bombyx mori L.), to yield raw silk and a range of secondary products. Two problems dominate its economics: the efficiency with which ingested mulberry leaf is converted into cocoon shell, and recurrent, season-linked losses to disease and pests. These problems are usually treated separately, yet they are physiologically and operationally entangled, because the leaf quality, temperature and humidity that govern conversion efficiency also determine pathogen pressure. This review integrates the two literatures. It clarifies how production efficiency is defined and measured, examines the leaf-quality, genetic, environmental and microbiome determinants of cocoon output, and sets these against the seasonal epidemiology of the four classical silkworm diseases and the principal dipteran pest. The evidence indicates that gains in conversion efficiency from improved mulberry cultivars, thermotolerant hybrids and microbiome modulation are real but frequently reported from small, single-location trials with inconsistent efficiency metrics, which limits comparability. Disease incidence follows recognisable seasonal patterns driven by temperature, humidity and leaf condition, but quantitative, prospectively collected incidence data across full rearing calendars remain scarce, and much management guidance rests on regional field validation rather than mechanistic demonstration. Host-resistance breeding, molecular immunity research and probiotic supplementation are promising but not yet integrated into season-specific management protocols. The most defensible conclusion is that production efficiency and disease management should be treated as a single optimisation problem calibrated to season, agro-ecology and silkworm genotype. Priority needs include standardised efficiency reporting, multi-season prospective disease surveillance, and controlled evaluation of combined nutritional, microbial and genetic interventions under realistic rearing conditions. The synthesis is intended to inform researchers, breeding programmes and extension services rather than to endorse any single intervention.