LAC CULTURE

LAC CULTURE
Rearing of lac insects for commercial production of
the lac is called as lac culture.
The term lac derived form the Sanskrit word
“laksha” meaning a hundred thousand and is
suggestive of the large number of insects involved
in its production.
Lac is produce by the insect laccifer indica.
It is a minute, resinous crawling scale insect which
inserts its probosics into the plant tissues and sucks
juice, grows and secretes lac from the hind end of
 lac
Lac is used in the preparation
of sealing wax, paints, varnish,
in the manufacture of
photographic materials,
electrical goods, bracelets,
buttons, toys, artificial leather
and pottery.
Taxonomy
✢ Lac insect : Laccifera lacca
✢ Order : Hemiptera
✢ Sub order : Homoptera
✢ Super family : Coccoidae
✢ Family : Kerridae
✢ Genus : Laccifera
✢ Species : lacca
 Host Plant
✢ Palas - Butea
monosperma
✢ Ber - Zizyphus
mauritiana
✢ Kusum - Shorea oleosa
✢ Kher - Acacia catechu
✢ Ghont - Zizyphus
xylopayra
✢ Arhar - Cajanus cajan
✢ Babul - Acacia Arabica
Lac Chemical composition
Water - 2 to 3 %
Resin - 68 to 90%
Dye - 2 to
10%
Wax - 5 to 6%
Mineral substance -
3 to 7%
Morphology of male Lac insects-
The male lac insect is red in color,
It has an head with antennae and eyes,
Head is large,
Prominent mouthparts but vestigial ocelli are
two pairs with seven segmented antennae which
have hair on them,
The abdomen is 8 segmented, broader anteriorly
and narrower posteriorly,
The last abdominal segment bear pointed penis,
Morphology of female Lac insects-
The female is pinkish in colour
The female have degenerated eye, legs and wings.
Antennae are vestigial, small and 3 to 4 segmented.
Mouthparts are sucking type.
Mesothorax is provided with an appendage on which spiracles open.
The abdomen is round and on the dorsal surface, a spine is provided.
 Life cycle of Lac
insect
lac culturist must have knowledge of the life cycle of lac insects and
must be able to identify the stage at which lac is produced maximum
and to be harvested. The lac insects show very distinct morphological
differences and sexual dimorphism. Moreover the insect is a parasite
on host plants.The life cycle of lac insect has 4 stage as-

Egg Larva Pupa Adult

 Life cycle
Fertilization: the male adult walks over the female incrustations and inserts itself into
the female cells, where it fertilizes the female.
Egg-laying: After fertilization, the female grows rapidly till it becomes capable of
egg-laying. A single female lays an average of aprox 500 eggs after fertilization and
deposits inside the incubating chambers of the female cell.
Egg Hatching: After 6 weeks, the eggs are hatched into first instar larvae. The mass
movement of these larvae in search of a suitable place to suck plant sap is
called swarming.
Pupa: A larva is a sluggish and continuous feeder. It encases itself and the twig by
secreting a resinous secretion from the body. The secretion hardens upon contact with
air and is called a lac cell. Inside the lac cell, the larva undergoes three moultings.
During moulting, male and females lose some body parts.
 Life cycle
Adults: Male larvae develop into male adult insects and are without
any mouthparts and thus do not feed. One adult male insect can fertilize
several females, and soon after fertilization, it dies. The female lac
insect is responsible for large scale production of lac, which is larger
than the male lac insect. The female larvae never move out of the cell
once they settle down after swarming.
Types of Lac
✢Depending on the host plant, lac is of two types:
✢ Kusumi Lac: Insects are reared on Kusum plants, and lac is
harvested from these plants.

✢ Ranjeeni Lac: when the lac insects are reared on non-Kusum

plants, the lac is known as Ranjeeni lac.
 Lac Cultivation
 Three important steps are involved:
1. Inoculation
2. Swarming
3. Harvesting
 Lac Cultivation
 After copulation, the male insect dies. The female develops very rapidly after
fertilization and lays about 200 to 500 eggs.
 Eggs hatch into larvae after six weeks. The mass emergence of larvae from the
egg in search of a host plant is called ‘swarming’ .
 After settling on the host, the larvae start feeding continuously and the secretion
of lac also starts simultaneously. Gradually the larvae become fully covered by
lac.
 Then the larvae moult in their respective cells (chamber). The shapes of the cells
are different for male and female insects, males are elongated whereas and the
female are oval.
 Some insects are natural predators of lac insects. The caterpillars of these parasites
feed upon lac insects showing hyper-parasitism.
 Lac Cultivation
 The process of introducing lac insect on the host plant is called inoculation. Before
inoculation, pruning of the host plant is done.
 The twigs having brood lac insect about 20 cm in length are attached to fresh host
plants. The lac insect then repeats its life cycle. The collection of lac from the host
plant is known as harvesting. Harvesting may be done before swarming
(immature) or after swarming (mature).
 Immature harvesting produces ‘Ari lac’ whereas mature harvesting produces the
mature lac. Lac cut from the host plant is called ‘Stick lac’. The lac present on the
twig is scraped and collected. After grinding, the unnecessary materials like dusts
and fine particles are removed. The resultant lac is called ‘seed lac’. The seed lac is
sun dried and then melted to produce ‘shellac’.
Thanks!
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