Analysis of the Energy Balance in the Morus alba-Bombyx mori System in Cuba’s Sericulture

The National Sericulture Project in Havana, started in 2011 to establish silkworm (Bombyx mori) rearing at a large scale in order to generate products to be used in the cosmetic, biomedical, biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries. The feeding of Bombyx mori L. exclusively depends on mulberry (Morus alba L.), so turning this system into a sustainable one for its development in the country requires an efficient use of the energy mainly based on the energy input-output relationships, on having mulberry cultivars of a high photosynthetic efficiency, on increasing agroecological practices and introducing other agricultural activities to diversify the intensive mulberry production system. The analysis of the energy balance used the software Energia 3.01, designed to estimate the energy of agroecosystems. The management of the area was characterized by identifying conventional agroecological practices developed on it. The results of estimating the energy efficiency indicate a mean efficiency for a specialized system depending on very few external outputs. These results were compared to 2019 the energy balance made in 2017. The introduction of new productive activities leading to increased energy efficiency and the generation of new products with a favorable impact on the environment and on the energy balance of the system, were proposed.