Abstract

                                The present study was conducted among 200 randomly selected farmers in north western and western zones of Tamil Nadu. The knowledge and adoption level of technologies were analyzed using knowledge and adoption index for both the zones. Knowledge of sericulture technologies in north western and western zones were 77.02 per cent and 91.04 per cent respectively. The linear discriminate analysis revealed that, dfls/ha/year and price of cocoon were the factors highly discriminated the low and high adoption group of farmers. In north western zone, high cost of inputs and non availability of chawki worm centres whereas the main constraints in mulberry production and silkworm rearing, middlemen interference was considered as main constraint in marketing of cocoon. In western zone, non availability and high cost of human labour were considered as the main problem in mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing. Lack of competitive marketing was the Sericulture technology, major constraint in marketing of cocoons in western zone.

Key words : Sericulture, knowledge coefficient, adoption coefficient, discriminant function, constraints.