The Institute of Sericulture and Tea at Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZAAS) originated as the Institute of Sericulture, which was founded in 1958 as one of the four earliest disciplinary areas of the academy. In 2020, after expanding its research scope to include tea science, the institute was renamed to its current title. It is home to 44 staff members and conducts research across a wide range of topics related to sericulture and tea cultivation.
The institute’s research covers silkworm and mulberry breeding, industrialized silkworm rearing, silkworm disease control, mulberry cultivation, pest control, and the diversified utilization of mulberry. Additionally, it focuses on special ligneous plant germplasm and the development of functional oil products, as well as the artificial cultivation of Phellinus igniarius and the utilization of fungus resources. For tea, the research focuses on tea plant breeding, cultivation, pest control, and tea leaf processing.
Moreover, the institute conducts applied basic research in silkworm genetic engineering, sex control, insect molecular biology, medicinal functions of natural herbs, and mechanisms, as well as the bio-function of characteristic compounds of tea leaves. The institute has made groundbreaking contributions, including developing mulberry cultivars that have won national prizes, and pioneering technologies in silkworm sex control, sex-linked lethal silkworm rearing, female-silkworm-based asexual cloning, and sex-linked speckle techniques. These technologies are considered world-leading in the field. The institute’s wide range of silkworm lines has been released and widely adopted in production.
More information (in Chinese): http://www.zaas.ac.cn.
