Mulberry is an economic tree being cultivated in China, India and several other Asian countries to feed the
silkworm, Bombyx mori, as mulberry leaf is the only food material available for this insect. The recent burst
in the industrialization and urbanization has considerably reduced the availability of land for agriculture
purposes in these Asian countries. This, in turn, has added much pressure on many agro-based industries,
including sericulture, to utilize the hitherto unutilized or marginally utilized areas for crop production.
Sericulture, a rural agro-based industry, is attempting to expand mulberry cultivation to drought- and
salinity-affected lands. Mulberry is only moderately tolerant to salinity and drought stresses, thus uti-lization of natural variations in stress tolerance does not hold much promise. Therefore, efforts are being
taken to develop stress-tolerant varieties using modern biotechnological methods, including transgen-esis. This paper provides an overview of the progress made to achieve this latter goal, highlighting the
problems and prospects. Different methodologies used to achieve transgenic mulberry, their merits and
demerits are also discussed