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Six young Mong Cai x Large White castrate male pigs, weighing on average15 kg, were allocated according to a balanced change over design, to two diets where mulberry leaves, either in milled, sun-dried or chopped, fresh. The basal diet was rice bran and the mulberry leaves contributed about 45% of the total daily N intake in iso-nitrogenous diets (Nx6.25, 13.7% on a dry basis). Digestibility indices in pigs fed mulberry leaves were relatively high. There were no significant effects of treatment on DM, organic matter and N digestibility but dry leaves tended to be associated with slightly lower digestibility values (overall means, 83.2 and 84.5%, respectively). There were no significant effects of treatment on DM, organic matter and N digestibility but dry leaves were associated with slightly lower digestibility values. N balance tended to be higher in pigs fed fresh mulberry leaves as compared to mulberry leaf meal, but the difference was not significant.
It can be concluded that in basal diets of rice bran, it is possible to use mulberry leaves as the only supplementary protein source.