THE ROLE OF LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS IN THE CONTROL OF THE SILKWORM DISEASES, THE CURRENT STATE, PROSPECTS AND THE IMPACT ON SERICICULTURE

Abstract

With a tradition of thousands of years in the world and several hundred years in our country, sericulture, a branch of animal husbandry whose object is the growth and multiplication of silkworms in order to obtain cocoons intended for processing, is almost becoming a rarity in many areas of the globe. It has a long history in Romania, starting from the 19th century, when it developed steadily until 1990, after which there was a dramatic decline in this field so that currently silk is only processed at a traditional level. The silkworm is an insect with complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, nymph, adult) and, at the same time, a biological model, and the best-known species of silkworms, whose cocoons can be used for silk production, are: Bombyx mori breed (90% considered the most valuable, the only one held in the heritage, which feed on mulberry leaves), Anthereae perny breed (oak silkworm) and Philosamia cynthia ricini breed (Eri silkworm). After the dissolution of S.C. Sericarom SA, by H.G. no. 695/2022, the Baneasa Bucharest Sericulture Research Station was established, which currently operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) and under the scientific coordination of the "Gheorghe Ionescu-Şișești" Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (AAFS), having as its main object the research-development activity and the conservation of the sericulture genetic pool. The maintenance of the sericulture genetic pool (84 Bombyx mori breeds, lines and hybrids) involves in addition to compliance with technical conditions and the performance of sanitary-veterinary examinations (direct microscopy and laboratory diagnostic methods for bacterial, internal parasitic, mycotic and viral diseases, according to the specific methodology. Thus, at the end of the active silkworm season (2022), morphological and microscopic investigations of the preserved silkworm genetic pool were carried out in the Laboratory of Silkworm Genetics, Breeding and Pathology of RSSBB in order to exclude the risk of the presence of pathogenic germs in the generations of silkworms from the next silkworm season (2023). The results of the laboratory examinations were negative for the samples taken in the analysis, a fact that allowed obtaining reproductive material free of diseases, of the best quality. The biological material free from infectious-contagious diseases can be utilized without restrictions by the main target beneficiaries (sericulture farmers, private silkworm breeders who obtain raw silk for economic purposes), who can be advised through specialist consultancy for the prevention and control of silkworm diseases, that can endanger their health and influence the quality production of silkworms cocoons.