Question

What is the rearing of silkworms referred to as?
a.) Sericulture
b.) Horticulture
c.) Agriculture
d.) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: The etymology of each of the given options should serve as a good enough hint.
a) Mid 19th century: abbreviation of French sériciculture, from late Latin sericum ‘silk’ + French culture ‘cultivation’
b) Late 17th century: from Latin hortus ‘garden’, on the pattern of agriculture
c) Late Middle English: from Latin agricultura, from ager, agr- ‘field’ + cultura ‘growing, cultivation’.

Complete step-by-step answer:
To help facilitate better understanding, let us go through explaining every option one at a time.
Sericulture is the process of cultivating silkworms and extracting silk from them. The caterpillars of the domestic silk moth (also called ‘Bombyx mori’) are the most commonly used silkworm species in sericulture. Other types of silkworms (such as Eri, Muga, and Tasar) are also cultivated for the production of ‘wild silks.’
Horticulture is the agriculture of plants, mainly for food, materials, comfort and beauty for decoration. Horticulturists apply knowledge, skills, and technologies to grow intensively produced plants for human food and non-food uses and for personal or social needs.
Their work involves plant propagation and cultivation with the aim of improving plant growth, yields, quality, nutritional value and resistance to insects, diseases and environmental stresses.
Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fibre and many other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock).
The practice of agriculture is also known as "farming", while scientists, inventors and others devoted to improving farming methods and implements are also said to be engaged in agriculture.
Therefore, by this detailed analysis, we can safely conclude that the answer to this question is a) Sericulture.


NOTE: This is a very simple conceptual question and should be easy pickings for most students. However, if you find yourself stuck on this question, option elimination on the basis of pre-existing knowledge of the other options could be equally as effective in helping to solve this question.