Mysuru: Commissioner for sericulture, Shilpa Nag on Tuesday, stressed that innovations developed in laboratories must be effectively transferred to the field to strengthen Karnataka’s sericulture sector.Addressing the ‘EntoNext 2026: Eco-Smart Entomology for Sustainable Sericulture – innovate, protect and prosper,’ organised by Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (CSRTI), she said technologies like heat-resistant silkworm races, disease-resistant breeds, IoT applications, colour-sorting machines and egg dispensers should be widely adopted by farmers.She observed that subsidies provide only short-term financial relief and urged stakeholders to focus on long-term economic stability, value addition and export promotion. Highlighting by-product utilisation, she advocated using silkworm pupae for poultry and fish feed, extracting pupa oil, producing spun silk fabrics and converting residual waste into compost. She also announced that Karnataka, in collaboration with the Central Silk Board (CSB), plans to establish environmental control sheds for silkworm rearing.CSB director (technical) S Manthira Moorthy called upon young scientists to develop innovative solutions to tackle pest problems in sericulture. He warned El Niño conditions could trigger pest outbreaks and urged researchers to develop safe chemical and microbe-based biopesticides, microbial consortia for pest management and solutions to the persistent non-spinning issue in silkworms.
