Muga is the only one of the vanya silks that can be reeled, because its cocoon gives 150–250 m of unbroken filament. The processing chain is therefore a reeling chain: stifle the pupa before it cuts the shell, dry to a storable moisture, cook to soften the sericin enough to unwind, reel, then re-reel and pack. Each step below has a standardised recipe developed or refined at this institute.
- Stifling & Drying
115–95 °C for two hours to stifle; down to 115–70 °C over eight hours for full drying at 60 % driage.
- Cooking & Degumming
Sodium carbonate at 2.0–2.5 g/L in the laboratory; muga super cook at 2 g/L in the field.
- Reeling
Wet basin at 50–60 °C; 8–10 cocoons for warp, 12–14 for weft.
- Packaging & By-grade Yarn
Re-reeling onto a 150 cm reel, packing into 2 kg and 5 kg books, and ghicha.