Application of biotechnology in sericulture: Progress, scope and prospect

Traditional sericulture represents rearing of silkworm for production of silk that provides livelihood opportunity to millions of people in the country besides earning foreign exchange. The time has come to diversify the whole sericulture process for meaningful realization of its output under the present day scenario. The advent of modern biotechnology and its application have opened a new arena of the synthesized science for silk production. The vast potential of silk industry can effectively be exploited by the application of modern day biotechnological approaches like, marker assisted selection and expression of foreign protein through transgenic approaches. On the other hand, the silk quality has been enhanced using probiotics and providing artificial feed to the silkworm. The potential of silk has been further exploited for biomedical applications. In this communication the comprehensive account of biotechnological applications in sericulture and its byproducts for the development of sericulture industry are compiled while emphasizing the need of applying modern biotechnology for meaningful growth and development of sericulture and silk industry.