关键词: 人工饲料育, 蚕丝针织物, 机械性能, 表观颜色, 色牢度

Abstract: With the continuous development of the social economy, China's sericulture industry is facing increasing challenges. In particular, the strong dependence of silkworm rearing on mulberry leaves imposes pronounced seasonal constraints on production, making traditional sericulture practices difficult to adapt to the requirements of modern agriculture. Therefore, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the sericulture industry has become imperative, and artificial diet–based silkworm rearing technology is regarded as an effective approach to overcoming this bottleneck. At present, studies on artificial diet–reared silkworms mainly focus on growth metabolism and cocoon or silk quality, while investigations on end-use silk knitted fabrics remain limited. In this study, silk knitted fabrics produced from factory-based all-age artificial diet–reared silkworms and those from all-age mulberry leaf–reared silkworms were comparatively investigated. The two types of fabrics were systematically evaluated in terms of surface morphology, air permeability, moisture permeability, bursting strength, drapability, abrasion resistance, K/S values, Lab values and color fastness, with the aim of clarifying the application potential of silk knitted fabrics derived from artificial diet–reared silkworms. The results showed that no significant differences were observed in the surface morphology of degummed knitted fabrics from the two rearing methods. In both cases, the silk fiber surfaces were smooth, and no obvious sericin residues were detected. After identical degumming and dyeing treatments, the air permeability and moisture permeability of the two fabrics exhibited no significant differences. However, due to differences in the secondary structure and crystallinity of the silk fibers, the bursting strength and abrasion resistance of the artificial diet–reared silk knitted fabrics were lower than those of the mulberry leaf–reared counterparts under both degummed and dyed conditions, whereas their drapability was superior. After dyeing, the air permeability of both degummed knitted fabrics decreased significantly, while drapability and abrasion resistance were markedly improved, whereas, moisture permeability and bursting strength showed no significant changes, which can be attributed to the combined effects of dyeing and finishing processes. In addition, no significant differences were found between the two types of fabrics in terms of K/S values, Lab color parameters, or color fastness, indicating comparable dyeing performance. Overall, the performance differences between silk knitted fabrics derived from artificial diet–reared and mulberry leaf–reared silkworms were mainly concentrated in bursting strength, drapability, and abrasion resistance. These differences originate from the intrinsic properties of the silk fibers produced under different rearing conditions. Although the artificial diet–reared silk knitted fabrics exhibited relatively lower bursting strength and abrasion resistance, the observed differences did not substantially affect their practical application. This study systematically elucidates the key performance characteristics of silk knitted fabrics produced from artificial diet–reared silkworms, providing data support for the large-scale promotion of artificial diet silkworm rearing technology and the industrial application of such silk fabrics. With the continued development and improvement of artificial diet–based silkworm rearing technology, these fabrics are expected to be more widely applied and to coexist with mulberry leaf–reared silk fabrics, jointly promoting the diversified and high-quality development of the silk industry.

Key words: artificial diet silkworm rearing, silk knitted fabrics, mechanical properties, color appearance, color fastness