Indonesian Natural Silk Laboratory (SAI) Transfer of Silkworm Cultivation Knowledge with IPB Faculty of Animal Husbandry Students Indonesia | 08/05/2024

The Indonesian Natural Silk Laboratory (LSAI), which is managed by the Center for Standardization of Sustainable Forest Management Instruments (PuSTARhut), received an educational visit from 81 students from the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, IPB University on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. The students were accompanied by a lecturer on the innovation of silk fiber technology, the study program of livestock products technology at IPB University.

This activity is divided into three sessions. Each session lasts for 1 hour, during which the LSAI team guides each group of students to follow the presentation of the material and go around the laboratory building to observe the facilities and how the equipment supporting activities at LSAI works. There are several supporting facilities at LSAI, including tissue culture, moriculture, silk fiber, filature, pathology, and entomology laboratories.

The activities presented include breeding silkworm strains. There are 54 pure strains of silkworms in the silkworm plasma bank at LSAI. Silkworm rearing involves several processes: egg hatching, caterpillar rearing, cocooning, cocoon harvesting, pupa selection, mating, and egg laying. The total maintenance cycle for silkworms is 30-36 days. A presentation was also made regarding mulberry plants as the primary food for silkworms. There are 42 types of mulberry plants in LSAI. The students were also provided insight into mulberry plant maintenance to ensure the availability of feed for silkworms at LSAI, the process of spinning yarn, and a brief explanation of agro-industrial activities.

The students were then invited to tour the LSAI gallery, which displays a collection of natural silk products, both the results of silk laboratory management activities and products from Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

At the end of the educational visit, there was a group photo session and closing remarks from the lecturer, "We hope that our students will gain additional knowledge in the field of silkworm cultivation and business opportunities. For this reason, we would like to express our gratitude to LSAI and PuSTARhut, who were pleased to welcome our educational visit. "In the future, we hope that LSAI can become Indonesia's main and largest sericulture reference laboratory."