Advances in the Constraints Between Feeding Preference and Artificial Diet Rearing in Silkworm, Bombyx mori

ABSTRACT As an economic insect, the silkworm plays a crucial role in China's agricultural industry. However, traditional sericulture faces multiple challenges due to its exclusive reliance on mulberry leaves, including labor shortages, pesticide contamination, and disease outbreaks, which severely constrain industry development. Artificial diet rearing, which utilizes formulated diets for silkworm cultivation, is a promising strategy to overcome these limitations and facilitate industrial upgrading. Nevertheless, current artificial diet rearing systems encounter obstacles such as inadequate strain adaptation and high diet costs. Recent studies have made significant advances in elucidating silkworm feeding mechanisms and artificial diet rearing optimization. This review systematically synthesizes progress in three key areas: molecular bases of feeding preference, development of artificial diet rearing‐adapted strains, and feed formulation technologies and rearing protocols. Our analysis provides theoretical frameworks and actionable solutions to advance artificial diet rearing implementation and sericulture modernization.