The young age silkworms (first and second instar larvae) need to be fed with mulberry leaves cut in to small pieces. The size of the leaf pieces depends upon the stage of growth of the silkworms. Generally, the chopped leaf size varies from 3 mm to 35 mm. Presently the mulberry leaves are chopped manually which is a time consuming process and this can be practiced only for small scale rearing of silkworms. For large scale rearing of silkworms and for chawki (young age silkworms) rearing centers large quantity of leaves have to be chopped for feeding the silkworms.

To minimize the drudgery and to save time and labor cost, the Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore has developed a mulberry leaf chopping machine for continuous operation. Depending on the requirement, adjustments can be made in the machine to cut the leaves to any size.

The machine is simple in construction and can be fabricated/manufactured using locally available material like mild steel (angles, etc), bearings, V-belts, pulleys, steel blades, bolts and nuts, electric motor (1/2 HP), etc.

Method/Process: The leaves are separated from twigs and fed in to the machine. Blades fixed on a wheel (driven by a pulley and motor) cuts the leaves as the wheel rotates. The chopped leaves are collected below in a container. Only one person can operate the machine.

List of Plant & Machinery Required: Fabrication/Mechanical workshop with facilities for turning, sheet metal cutting, welding, spray painting, etc.